In The BLAC: A TF2 FANFIC
by Real Live Fishlegs
Summary: A collab with some friends of mine on DeviantArt. Overall, it involves my new group BLAC team in a brand new twisted adventure! :  Glory goes to God, and all my friend on DA who let me borrow their RED and BLU OC's! :
1. Chapter 1: In The Beginning

In The BLAC

A Team Fortress 2 Fan-fiction

Prologue:

It's war... The RED team and the BLU team have constantly gone at each other for the sake of vain things; money, prestige, and some fought just for the love of blood. In spite of the unending conflict, many RED mercenaries have come to know and even befriend members of the BLU team. However, when a new group of unknown soldiers in black suits show up, things start going a little crazy. To think, the greatest friendships always start in the worst of dilemmas. BLU and RED must join forces to find the answer to their questions: Who are these men in black? What do they want? Will Steff and her friends even dare to find out? Only one way to know for sure.

Chapter 1: In The Beginning

It was midday. Two guards marched down the Main Base hallway, dragging a young man. The boy opened his bruised eyes, slowly looking around as his limp body scraped along the floor. An angry voice came over the P.A. System, "Attention: All BLAC team members report to the administration office at once!" and in an instant, it went silent again.

"The General has something special for you, you little runt." One of the guards grunted, "Maybe you should try and stand up. Or do you need a wheelchair?" The other guard laughed as the teenager tried to stand.

The boy glared at the one guard, and slowly got back onto his feet. "Look, I'm sorry I lost the package, I am! But it wasn't my fault! I swear!"

"Shut up!" The guard retorted, "If you want to talk, tell it to the General."

As the three came to the end of the hall, they passed through a door, a door marked: Administrations. The two guards and the young scout then entered a mid-sized room. In the room already were eight other members, all dressed in black uniforms. There was another man in the room, seated behind a desk. The man lifted his gaze to the boy who was practically dragged in. "There you are, Marcus." The man started off sarcastically, "I was beginning to think that you didn't make it."

The scout, Marcus, wasn't ready to play the one man's game, "General, I swear it wasn't my fault. There was a sniper. I didn't mean to lose the package."

The General slowly stood up, and drew a gun from the desk drawer, "Do you know what was inside that case? In that case lied a chance to change history! And you, of all people, dropped it? You know our rules for failure, Marcus!" He loaded the pistol and pressed it against Marcus' head.

"Please sir, I'm sorry! I swear, it won't happen again! Just please, one more chance!"

One of the members of the team, the only girl, stepped out at that moment to speak, "Sir, with all due respect, he was under pressure. Give him another chance. There has to be other cases we can capture."

The General shot a look over to the girl, and then back at Marcus. He laughed and quickly withdrew the gun, "Marcus, you're a good soldier, perhaps one of the best I've trained. That is why I'm not going to kill you. But all good soldiers need an occasional dosage of one thing to keep in them working order."

Marcus breathed a sigh of relief, and gave an earnest reply, "And what might that be, sir?"

The General grinned, "A little incentive." The smile instantly faded as he pointed the pistol at the girl and shot her. Marcus' eyes widened as he watched the girl's lifeless body drop to the floor. He began to shiver as the General blew away the smoke from the gun's barrel. "You see, Marcus? You're starting to look better already." He gestured the guards to remove the body, "Take out the trash boys, I've got work to do." The guards obeyed , picked up the corpse, and proceeded to carry it out of the room.

The sniper of the team stepped out from the others, "Sir, I must pro-"

The General slowly pointed his gun in the sniper's direction, "You got something to say, loudmouth?"

The sniper reluctantly stepped back, "No sir, my mistake."

"Then get back in line, before I hold another execution." The General growled, "Now, since we've lost one vital briefcase containing valuable data, we only have two others that still catch my eye. One was buried by the RED team near an abandoned fortress. The other lies within the BLU base, here." He marked the map on the wall at that one point. "That base, however, is still occupied by both RED and BLU forces. I expect you to get in there and take care of them. And hopefully this time, you won't drop the intelligence into a chasm. Will you, Marcus?" To his surprise, there was no answer. "Marcus? Marcus, do you hear me?" He looked over to Marcus, who was watching out the window as the two guards disposed of the girl's body. The General pounded his desk, "Answer me, Marcus!"

Marcus opened his eyes and nearly jumped out of his seat. He began looking all around him to confirm that he had been dreaming. "Marcus? Hey man, relax. You okay?" a voice uttered next to him.

Marcus looked over to the demo-man dressed in black, "I'm alright, Manuel. Really, I'm fine."

Manuel chuckled a bit and gently nudged Marcus in the shoulder, "Just another dream, huh?"

Marcus shook his head and peered out the window of the bus, "I wish. Hey Danny, are we there yet?"

Danny, the sniper behind the wheel, got a bit frustrated, "I swear, why is everybody on this bus asking me that? Why can't you all just shut up and let me-" The sniper caught himself as he spotted a sign, "Oh, we're here everyone!"

Every member of the black-clad team cheered as the bus found a parking space just outside of the RED portion of the base. "Finally," Isaac, the team's heavy blurted, "Fresh air and room to stretch! I swear that bus ride stank!"

"Well excuse me!" Danny complained, "Is it my fault that the only bathroom on the bus is my collection of mason jars?"

"Um, yes?" Isaac answered, giving Danny a stupefied look.

The sniper's brow twitched, "Fine then!" he shouted, "Next time you can walk!"

Isaac huffed, "Not a prob for me, I've got sandviches!"

Just then Jared, the team medic, poked his head out of his bus window, "And you've got me in case you run out of those!"

Isaac rolled his eyes, "Oh please, don't even bother."

"Hey hey, amigos!" Manuel's brother Carlos started in, "We can't complete the mission if we're all feeling muy mal at each other! The engineer continued his little speech, "Let's go and do what we got to do, eh?"

Manuel agreed as he stepped off the bus, "Carlos is right, this bickering is pointless. We must stick to the mission's original plan. But before we can set up the operation, I need two volunteers to scout out our location."

Everyone turned their gazes over to Danny and Marcus. Danny started to sweat a little, "Um, why are they looking at us?"

Soon afterward, Danny and Marcus were patrolling around right outside of RED base. "I can't believe this!" Danny started to spout, "I drove them all this way! I paid for the gas and for the burger joint! And this is how they repay me? By making me take point?"

"Quit whining, Danny." Marcus said calmly, "We don't have that much left. Besides, we're probably not going to see anyth-" Marcus quickly dove for cover upon reaching an open space behind the base. "Danny, get down!" he whispered loudly, before ultimately pulling Danny to the ground with him.

"What" Danny uttered quietly, "What is it?"

Marcus, gestured with his eyes over towards the inner portion of the base, "I saw movement, about twenty yards into the base. Two, maybe three hostiles."

"Reds?" Danny asked softly.

"I don't know," Marcus answered, "But I'm not waiting to find out. Get your rifle ready."

Danny took the case from off his back and opened it. Within a minute, he assembled his weapon of choice, a sniper rifle.

"Take a look, do you see anything?" Marcus asked while taking out his bat.

Danny looked around using his rifle's scope. "I don't see a thing, mate. Not even a rat. Wait, there's one. Oh, she's a piece of work."

Marcus was a bit astonished,"What? A girl? Here? No, it can't be. They stopped letting girls into our group a long time ago."

"Well, remember that these blokes aren't from our group. See for yourself if you don't believe me."

Danny handed Marcus the rifle, who proceeded to glance through the scope. Through the sight, Marcus saw a young blonde scout walking around the section of the base, "No way. She's- she's beautiful."

"Too right, mate." Danny nodded, "Now, my rifle if you please."

Marcus seemed a little squeamish about Danny's intentions, "Why? What are you going to do?"

Danny didn't hesitate to answer his friend, "I'm going to shoot her before she let's her buddies know we're here."

"Are you crazy?" Marcus withheld the rifle, "You're not going to shoot a girl!"

"I don't really have a choice! If I don't shoot her, she'll run off and then her friends will shoot us!"

Marcus looked over to where the girl was, only to see another person beside her, "Well what about that thing? Can't you shoot that?"

Grabbing his rifle back, Danny put his eye to the scope again. The person next to the scout was different. It was dressed as an engineer, but was covered form head to toe in yellow fur. On top of that, a tail protruded from the back of its overalls. "Fair game for a hunter like me." Danny smirked a bit, "Whatever it is, I'm going to be rich." Danny held his breath for a moment, and then slowly squeezed the trigger. The shot echoed throughout the fort, even the soldiers at BLU base heard it. "Odd, that wasn't supposed to happen."

"Why, what happened?" Marcus asked a little nervous.

"I can't believe it, I bloomin' missed!"

"What?" Marcus yelled, "Come on Danny, you never miss!"

Danny shuddered, "I did just now. Let's get out of here before it's too-" Danny got up to leave, only to see the scout, the engineer, and what appeared to be the RED heavy looming over them. "late..."

Marcus was terrified at the sight of the heavy. He was big, his skin was steel gray, and his eyes were a fiery sulfur-yellow. "Danny, do you have a plan? Because I would really like it if you did right now."

"I have a plan, mate. Um, run!" In but a moment, Marcus and Danny ran off.

"You guys get the geek with the hat, I'll handle the little twerp!" the RED scout shouted as she darted after Marcus. Danny and Marcus soon split up in hopes of eluding their pursuers. Danny however, as he ran from the RED heavy, fell into a ditch that lay in front of him. Marcus continued to sprint on and on, but the RED scout was still on his tail.

'This is ridiculous!' Marcus thought to himself, 'What does that girl eat? She's cheating, she's gotta be cheating!' Marcus tried to trip her up by knocking over objects, but to no avail. 'Alright Marcus, there's the exit, once you're out of there, you're home free!' was what went through his mind. What happened in reality was, well in short- he tripped. The RED scout quickly jumped on top of him and pinned him to the ground. He tried to free himself, but it was no use. He finally looked up at the girl, who looked strangely familiar to him. He wanted to pry her off, but all he could say was, "Hi." The scout looked at him with disgust, and her bat was ready in her hand. "You know," Marcus started in, "you're pretty fast for a gi-" His sentence was cut off when the RED scout struck him hard in the head with her bat, knocking him out cold.

"Did you get the other one?" Steff, the RED scout asked.

KI-11, the heavy let a smile run over his face, "He gave himself to us is more like it."

"Aright," Steff said as she climbed off of Marcus' unconscious body, "Let's get them inside. Find out who they are and who sent them."

The heavy and the engineer then took the two BLAC boys into the base in hopes of getting answers from them. Little did the Reds know that the Blues were watching the entire time...


	2. Chapter 2: Captured Again

Chapter 2: Captured... Again...

As Steff, Angie, and KI-11 carried Danny and Marcus inside, they unwittingly had left their post open to their enemies, the BLU team.

"Alright, they're gone." Johnny, the BLU scout whispered as he entered the RED team's perimeter, "Let's move in, quietly." With him was Doug, the heavy of BLU team, followed by Setsuna, who was perhaps the scariest and most sadistic medic in BLU team history.

"I am just vondering," Setsuna asked, "Who vere those two men?"

"Haven't a clue," Johnny muttered as a grin crept onto his face, "but one way or another I'm gonna find out. Doug, you and the medic take one side of the entrance. I'll take the other side. When those three come back out, we'll be waiting for them when they do!"

"Finally, some payback!" Doug cheered, still trying to keep his voice down.

Nearly an hour later, Johnny and his two companions were on the ground, sweating profusely from the intense heat. "I don't get it." Johnny started, "What's taking them so long? It doesn't take me five minutes to get back to my post."

"You forget the fact that you are never at your post." Setsuna added, "But you are right, they are taking a long time."

Doug's anxiety had started to get the best of him, "It really makes me wonder what they're doing down there."

Meanwhile, deep inside the RED base's medical facility, Marcus and Danny lay unconscious and strapped to operating tables. The RED medic leaned over Marcus' body to take his pulse. "Very strange, I thought he would have come to by now." He then glared at the RED scout, "Steff..."

"I didn't hit him that hard, okay?" Steff defended herself, "Besides, he had it coming to him!"

The medic politely silenced her, "I don't want to hear that, Steff. You must learn to control that temper of yours, especially when taking prisoners."

"Oh come on, Geo!" Steff complained, "It's not like I killed him or something!"

"The boy's lucky you didn't even give him a concussion." Geo concluded sternly, "However, I'll have to wake them up manually. Dillon, hand me the mineral spirits."

The RED sniper heeded and fetched the smelling salts from the medicine cabinet. Dillon then tossed the bottle to Geo, who proceeded to hold it under Marcus' nose. Marcus slowly moved his head after breathing in the fumes. Soon after, he opened his eyes. "Wha- what happened?" he mumbled. His sight cleared, only to reveal the medic standing right in front of him. "Gah! What the- who are you? _What_ are you?" Marcus inquired, seeing that Geo was a dog; a large, intelligent dog.

"I'm a doctor," Geo answered calmly, "and I'm here to help you."

Marcus however became infuriated as he struggled to break free, "Cut the crap, flee-bag! What do you want with me?"

The medic felt the insult cut into him, but he tried to withhold his anger. "I am a doctor, but I need you to answer some questions."

Marcus continued to ridicule the medic, "About what? You can't remember where your bone was buried?"

"The nerve of such talk!" Geo responded, agitation flooding his eyes, "I've treated wild animals that were more civilized than you!"

"Yeah I bet." Marcus spouted, "Were they friends of yours, Rover?"

At that moment, Geo just snapped. "Steff, give me your bat!"

"Easy doc," Steff hesitated, "You can have it all you want when he's done giving us some answers."

"I'm not answering anything for you, blondie!" Marcus snarled. That was when Steff began stomping towards him, bat in hand. "Alright, alright! I'll answer the questions, just please don't hurt me." he whimpered softly.

"That's better." Steff smirked a bit, "Now, who are you? Why did you come here? Who sent you?"

"I'm afraid that's classified information." Marcus grinned.

"Oh really?" Steff uttered sarcastically, "Well, it turns out I'm authorized to hear that information."

"On what authority?" Marcus yelled.

Steff got right into Marcus' face and grabbed him by the collar, "On the authority of my bat and the promise that I'll kick your butt into oblivion! That's my authority!"

Marcus paused just as Steff began to raise her bat, "Okay." he grunted, "If you untie me and my friend, I swear to say everything I know to you."

Steff slowly loosened her grip, "Is that a promise?"

Marcus nodded, "You have my word."

Steff actually smiled for a moment, "And you have yourself a deal."

Marcus in an instant was relieved, "Alright then, let me go."

"Not so fast!" Steff added, pointing to Geo, "You owe my friend an apology."

Marcus looked over to Geo and winced, "I'm- I'm- I'm sorry." He began gasping for breath.

"There, now was that so hard short-stuff?" Steff patted Marcus on the head as if he were a child.

Marcus growled a bit, "Just let me go now, please? But free my friend first."

The RED medic nodded and went over to Danny to untie him. Steff began to do the same for Marcus. However, as Steff unbuckled the last strap, Marcus grabbed her and wrapped his arms around her neck. "Alright Reds, not a step closer or blondie's neck goes breaky-breaky! Danny, are you free?"

"As a bird, mate." Danny replied, not only unrestrained but armed with a knife. "Shall we split?"

"We had a deal! " Steff grunted as she tugged at the arm around her throat, "You promised to tell me everything you know!"

Marcus agreed with a clever look on his face, "I'm a man of my word," he slowly leaned his lips next to her ear and whispered, "Everything I know."

"You jerk!" Steff screamed, "I swear if you even start to let go of me, I'm gonna kill you!"

Marcus tightened his grip a bit, "Duly noted, now the rest of you guys, out of our way!" Marcus and Danny slowly backed out as the RED team stepped aside.

Johnny lay just outside the entrance, nearly dehydrated. That was when he heard the sounds of yelling and footsteps. "It's about time. Guys wake up, we've got company."

At the time, Marcus and Danny were only about thirty yards from the mouth of the base, with Steff as their hostage. Unfortunately, the rest of the RED team had sounded the alarm and began to pursue them. "We need to move faster!" Danny argued, "They're just going to catch up if we keep walking."

"Tough luck boys," Steff mocked, "because if you let me go, I'll just chase you down myself."

"You know something, you're absolutely right." Marcus remarked as he put Steff into a sleeper hold and knocked her out. "Sorry blondie, it was only fair." Marcus slowly laid Steff down on the ground, "Let's go. They'll be right behind us." With no extra weight, Marcus and Danny ran up the ramp-way towards the entrance of the base.

With his ear to the wall, Johnny listened carefully, "Alright, they'll be here in less than two minutes. Get ready, you two." The noises got louder and louder as Johnny moved into position. "Now guys! Alright, heeeeeeerrrrreeee's Johhnnnnyyyy!" He shouted, only to be knocked off his feet by Marcus, who practically plowed into him. Danny followed suit and incapacitated the other BLU members that were with him.

"Sorry _Johnny_, I can't talk right now." Marcus remarked as he picked up Johnny's bat. Marcus then walked up to the control panel and activated the main gate. The door slammed shut just as the RED team arrived. They were now trapped inside their own base. Marcus however wasn't foolish. Using Johnny's bat, he smashed the controls to pieces. "That will hold them for now. Come on, we need to get out of here!"

As they ran off, Danny made it clear to Marcus, "We are so not doing that again, ever!"

"You need to calm down, Danny."

Danny begged to differ, "What I need is a new job, that's what I need!"

Meanwhile, back at the bus, the rest of BLAC team had a fire started. Carlos was playing music on his guitar, and Jared was waltzing with Isaac. Manuel on the other hand was keeping a watchful eye out for Danny and Marcus- all the while sipping cactus juice and playing with his stash of homemade firecrackers. He lit one up and chucked it at a lizard crawling on a rock... BOOM, and the rest was history. Manuel let out a bored sigh, "Where the heck are you guys?" He lit another and chucked it, only to his surprise that there was no explosion. "Eh, I hate duds." Just then, another loud BOOM went off, followed by some girly screams.

"Manuel, you idiot! Does this look like a dud to you?" Marcus shouted as he and Danny emerged from the brush. Both were now charred black and their hair was sticking up in the air.

Manuel couldn't help but laugh, "Mi madre's recipe never fails! Hey guys, they're back!"

"Well of course we're back!" Danny protested, "Unfortunately we're back with bad news."

"And what news is bad news, compadres?" Manuel asked curiously.

"We need a new plan." Marcus muttered under his breath, "Their team is composed of the weirdest, ugliest, and yet smartest cookies I've ever seen. They caught wind of us before we even had a chance to act. Though, we might have had some luck if blind-eyes over here hadn't missed!"

"That wasn't my fault mate!" Danny argued, "The scope's bearings got reset on me!"

"Easy muchachos." Manuel said in hopes of calming the two down, "The rest of us kinda figured we were in over our heads, so we called in a professional."

"A professional?" Marcus raised his brow, "Oh no, Manuel. Tell me you didn't call Jacques."

Marcus' fears however had come true when a cloud of smoke appeared between the three mercenaries. When the smoke cleared, the figure that resided within it slowly lit a cigarette and took one long breath. As he released the smoke from his lungs, a raspy word escaped along with it, "Gentlemen..."


	3. Chapter 3: Unlikely Alliance

Chapter 3: The Unlikeliest of Unlikely Alliances

"Manuel..." Marcus complained a bit, staring at the BLAC spy in their midst, "Tell me you were drunk. You were drunk, weren't you?"

Manuel pointed his finger at Marcus, "First of all, I don't drink senor. Second, I didn't call him on impulse. We all voted on it."

"You voted?" Danny raised his brow, "Mate, what do you think this outfit is, some kind of democracy?"

"We needed help, so I got it for us." Manuel objected.

"A spy? Helpful?" Marcus scoffed, "They're nothing but dime-a-dozen, back-stabbing scumbags! Especially this one!"

"Gentlemen, please! How can we do business together if I'm not even welcome here?"

"Jacques is right." Manuel pleaded, "We're not solving our problem by refusing his help."

"So what's it going to be, Marcus?" Jacques asked, offering his hand, "Will you accept my proposal? Or would you rather refuse and fail your mission?"

Marcus winced for a moment, and unwillingly clashed his hand with Jacques'. "Only for the sake of the mission. Once we have the briefcase, you get out."

"If that is what you wish." Jacques grinned, "Now as for payment, I take cash or che-"

"Cut it, Frenchie!" Danny scolded, "You know bloomin' well that we got no ruddy money!"

Jacques flicked away the butt of his old cigarette and drew new one from his case, "Right, I forgot our pig-headed benefactor the General is stingy with your salary. Is there something else you could offer in exchange for my services?"

"There's only one thing any member of BLAC team would ever want." Marcus smirked, "You want me to get you out."

"Agreed," Jacques smiled a bit, "I will help you capture that briefcase, and you will get me out of team BLAC."

Marcus nodded, "It's a deal. But I need to warn you, the guys on RED team are dangerous."

"Why are you worried about RED team?" Jacques inquired, "The BLU team has the case. I don't understand why you're having such trouble with gaining the Reds' support."

Danny failed to comprehend Jacques' words, "Support? What are you talking about?"

Jacques seemed surprised, but not impressed, "You mean you didn't tell them why we were here?" Marcus only answered with a shrug. Jacques slapped his masked face with the palm of his hand, "You all are so stupid! You wouldn't have had to call me if you had just asked for their help! That means I will have to handle it, and you know how people are around spies."

Marcus only continued to argue, "But we had strict orders to take both teams out."

"My friend, they are the diversion." Jacques took another long breath from his cigarette, "Let them kill each other off while we grab the briefcase."

"That might actually work." Danny said astounded, "I never would have thought of that."

"Indeed." Jacques responded, "I wouldn't expect a man of your caliber to think of that."

Danny would have struck the spy for that remark, but he withheld himself for Marcus' sake. "So now what? We practically sabotaged their base, and now we have to go and convince them it was a mistake?"

"Apparently so." Jacques concluded gesturing with his hand in an 'after you' manner, "Shall we?"

"If we must." Marcus groaned, "But if they start shooting, expect me to use you as a human shield."

"Unusual for a scout to be cowardly." Jacques laughed a bit, "Usually they're the hard-headed ones."

"Just shut up and let's get going!" Marcus barked as he whipped out his bat and marched off with Danny and the rest of BLAC team towards the RED base.

In the meantime: Steff, Angie, and KI-11 are back at their post after fixing the main gate. "Did he hurt you at all, Steff?" Angie wondered, "It must have been scary."

"Are you kidding me?" Steff reacted, "The shrimp couldn't scare a squirrel even if it let him! As for hurting me, well-"

"Well what?" KI-11 asked, "Usually there is something after well."

Steff laughed a bit, "Well, it's funny. He had every chance to do something. He could have killed me if he wanted. Yet, he didn't even scratch me."

"Maybe he's got a thing for blondes?" Angie joked, only to burst out laughing. KI-11 soon followed.

Steff grunted loudly, "Ugh, don't get me started on that! Besides, he made fun of my hair the entire trip!"

"Always a sign that he's hiding something." Angie continued, "You seem to be hiding some of your feelings too."

"I am not!" Steff folded her arms.

"The guy was kinda cute, Steff." Angie added, "It's only natural for someone your age to have a cr-"

"Don't even go there! Did you see how short he was? Even if I did 'like' him, I'd always have to look down at him! And the fact is I don't like him! He's nothing more than a puny, blue-eyed jerk!"

KI-11 became confused, "Steff, how did you know black scout had blue eyes?"

"I looked at his eyes when I was interrogating him! What's so weird about that?"

Angie leaned towards the heavy's ear, "She's in a state of denial, that's typical for girls her age."

Steff snarled a bit, "I'm gonna check the perimeter!" and stomped off towards the base entrance. Won't she be shocked once she finds that BLAC team is headed in the same direction.

"Now where did you the say the base entrance was?" Jacques asked ahead to Marcus, who was leading the group.

"If I'm right, and I usually am, the entrance right around this-" He was cut off when he accidentally walked right into Steff, "corner."

"You again?" Steff shouted as she backed away and drew out her bat, "Leave us alone before I make you!"

"Look here, blondie." Marcus said calmly while slowly walking towards her, "Maybe we got off on the wrong foot. There's gotta be a way we can make this right, right?"

Steff choked up her grip on the bat, "Not a step closer, I mean it!"

"No you don't." Marcus grinned as he stepped even closer to her, "Come on blondie, just put the bat down."

Steff became even more furious and prepared to swing, "Stop calling me that! I have a name you know! It's Steff!"

Marcus set another foot forward, "Okay then Steff, do as I say and put the bat down."

She closed her eyes and prepared to swing, "No, I said stay back! You're asking for it!" She felt a hand touch hers softly. She slowly opened her eyes, only to see that Marcus was now right in front of her.

"All I'm asking is that you put the bat down." Marcus said gently, little by little lowering her bat with his hands. "There, that wasn't too hard."

Steff was mesmerized at the moment, unsure of what to do. Suddenly, a thought came to her mind. She tore her hand away from his and drove her knee hard into his groin. "No, it wasn't." Steff cleverly commented as she stepped over Marcus' ailing body.

"Oh Lord, why me?" Marcus screamed in agonizing pain while rolling on the ground, "Why me?"

Steff pulled out a pistol and cocked the hammer back, "The rest of you get lost before I make the bullets start flying!"

The rest of BLAC team backed away from the girl with the gun. However, Jacques silently appeared right behind her, with something in his hand. Steff remember the feeling all too well though. She quickly whipped around to try and shoot the spy, but found no one there. She slowly turned back around, only to have the pistol wrenched out her hand by Jacques, who had barely even made a sound. "Surprise, mademoiselle." Steff tried to free herself, but to no avail. "I have something for you." Jacques said sinisterly as he raised the object in his hand. Steff closed her eyes and braced for the worst, only to feel a piece of paper cross her palm. Steff felt the pressure of the grip on her hand release. She opened her eyes to see an ID card in her hand. "I hope you can read." Jacques muttered as he faded away from sight into a cloud of smoke.

Once Steff looked at the card, her eyes nearly fell from their sockets. She glanced over at Marcus, who was still wheezing on the ground, "He can't be... Could he?" In an instant she walked over and stood above Marcus.

Marcus looked up at her, still in pain, "Why would you do something like that?"

Steff let out a frustrated sigh and stretched out her hand, "Come on, I'll help you up."

Marcus grabbed her hand and slowly stood up, "Why did you kick me?"

Steff was disappointed in Marcus' lack of gratitude, "Why didn't you tell me the truth?"

Marcus was about to argue further, "I-" but something caught him, "I'm sorry, okay? I should have told you, I just- just- I didn't know what you'd do to me if I told you that all we wanted was briefcase."

Steff was still furious over the matter, "Well if you had just said something, we might have given you a hand!"

Marcus rubbed his head with his fingers, "I know, I know. The truth is, we need your help getting that intel. We need all the help we can get. I understand if you refuse to help, you have every reason to. I only hope you can accept both Danny's apology and mine."

Steff grinned at the fact she had won yet another fight, "I'll think about the apologies, but if you need help getting the case from the Blues, count me and the rest of the guys in."

Marcus perked up a bit, "Alright boys, we're in business!"

"On one condition." Steff finished.

Marcus moaned a little bit, "And that is?"

"Once you get the case, you get out, for good." She said firmly, arms folded across her chest.

Marcus casually walked up to Steff and shook her hand, " I'm Marcus, and girl, you have a deal."

"Good to hear." Steff smiled peacefully, "Now, we have extra quarters for you guys to sleep and-"

Danny politely interrupted, "Wait wait wait just a minute... Extra quarters?"

"Well yeah." Steff gestured towards outside the base, "That is unless you want to sleep with the coyotes."

Danny and Marcus shivered at that one word, They both looked at each other for moment, and ultimately agreed, "We'll take it."

Marcus then called to the other BLAC members, "Alright boys you heard her! Room and board inside the base! Move it!" As the day came to a close, the members of BLAC team were now stationed inside of RED base with Reds as their new allies.

In the shadows however lurked a dark figure. "General, it's confirmed. The alliance has been made, and the package is within our reach." The figure spoke into a radio on his wrist.

"Good." The General's voice emitted from the radio, "They don't know about you, do they?"

"They suspect nothing sir, they're playing into our hands." The figure reassured, "You remember our agreement?"

"Yes yes. If you succeed with your mission, I will get you out of BLAC permanently. But may I remind you that this is a black op. If you fail, you will cease to exist. I don't care how you do it, but I want that briefcase."

"I assure you General, you shall have it." The figure smirked a hint, "What of the others?"

"Marcus and his men are expendable. In case they survive, I'll deal with them myself. As for the other teams, eliminate all that stand in your way. Do not fail me, or else."

The figure nodded his head, "I understand, General. It will be done." and signed off his radio.

That same time back in the General's office, the General had just finished making that call. As the general hung up the radio, his subordinate stepped in. "General, is it time?"

"It's time, captain." The General answered, "Assemble the legion."


	4. Chapter 4: Meet The Teams Part 1

Chapter 4: Meet The Teams Part 1

Steff walked down the base hallway with BLAC team trailing behind her. She introduced each member to their new rooms. Danny fortunately got his own room to himself. The other members, were not so lucky. Carlos was forced to share a room with Darius, the RED pyro, who apparently has issues with fast talking Hispanics.

"Come on, Steff! Can't he share your room?" Darius protested.

Carlos tried his best to apologize,"Por favor senorita, lo siento por mi mal ingles!"

"My room is off limits to everyone but me, you know that." Steff answered both of them, "You two will have to learn to get along somehow."

Darius groaned with disgust, "Fine, just for tonight! Come on hombre, I'll help you set up."

Carlos' eyes perked up with excitement, "Si, gracias mi amigo! I will be bueno, I swear!"

Darius turned back and pointed a finger in Carlos' face, "First of all, I'm not your 'amigo'. Second, if I hear you chatter one more word in Spanish, your butt is gonna be muy caliente y bien hecho when I'm done with you! Is that clear?"

"Si mi ami-" Carlos paused, "I mean, yes."

Darius smirked a bit, "Good, now let's get that bunk made, shall we?" Carlos nodded and the two went off to their room. Manuel was able to talk the RED sniper Dillon into sharing his room. Isaac, being the team heavy, was able to avoid Jared and instead bunk with Geo. This inevitably left Jared to stay with KI-11, who was a full-blooded machine.

KI-11 glanced down at Jared, "So, tiny medic needs place to sleep?"

"Well- yes." Jared swallowed the lump in his throat, "I need someplace to lay my head at least. I don't care if it's a pillow or a rock, just as long as it's something."

The heavy scratched his round metallic head, only for his eyes to flash bright with an idea. "Come with me." He said as he walked down the hallway. Jared followed the heavy down to a room labeled VIP: Do Not Disturb. "This will work."

Jared seemed a bit nervous, expecting a room infested with spiders and roaches. What he found as the heavy opened the bedroom's door was not what he had expected. Inside was a fancy king-sized bed covered in velvet sheets, with a built-in restroom and shower. Jared was a bit too stunned for words, but he finally managed to utter, "I love it... I- love- it! Thank you!" He hugged KI-11 to show his gratitude.

KI-11 struggled to get the skinny nerd off of his chassis, "Okay, little man can let go now."

Jared eventually released the RED heavy, and they then both parted for the night. All that remained now was Marcus, who only argued about the accommodations. "I don't share rooms with people I can't trust. I'll sleep on the floor if I have to."

Steff however wouldn't take no for an answer, "You're in my base, Marcus. I offered you a place to sleep, and you're going to accept it. It's that simple. Out there you can do what you want, but in here, you go by our rules."

Marcus was about to make a mean remark, but instead sighed with frustration, "Alright, which bunk is mine?"

"Well you're in luck." Steff started, "You have more than one choice. I for one highly recommend Angie. Her room is the one marked Engineering."

Marcus didn't seem to agree with that idea, "Oh no, not that cat-woman thing!"

Steff folded her arms with disappointment, "That 'thing' is my friend! And she's a chupacabra, not a cat."

Marcus raised and eyebrow, "A Chupa-what-ra?"

"A Chupacabra. But don't worry, she's nice." Steff leaned towards his ear to whisper, "And besides, she thinks you're cute."

A nervous blush flooded Marcus' face, only to be washed away by an angry, "I heard that!" that emitted from Angie's room.

Marcus regained his nerve for a moment, "Next please."

Steff shook her head a bit, "Well, I'll completely leave out the option of our Ian's room."

"Who's Ian?" Marcus asked, wondering why she wouldn't consider his room.

"The spy for our team. Well, at least I think he is. It's hard to tell which side these guys are on these days."

Marcus agreed, "Yeah you're right about that. Anyone else?"

"All we've got left is Aggy, but I don't think you'd want-"

"Is she human?" Marcus asked with high hopes.

"Well, yeah- she tries to be. I don't know if I'd recommend her for a guy like you though. She's kinda touchy, and sometimes even ravenous."

"What, you think I can't handle myself?" Marcus argued, "I'll have you know that I have served in my outfit for more than four years! I have been shot at, nearly blown up, burned, and almost gutted! Who are you to say that I can't handle sharing a room with a girl who has anger issues?"

Steff raised her hands gently to calm him down, "Alright, if that's what you want. Her room is the one marked Demolitions. Though a little advice, watch your back in there."

"You watch your back, and I'll watch mine." Marcus replied bluntly as he walked towards the one room he had just been assigned to.

Steff made a 'tsk' sound with her tongue, "When you're with Aggy, you'll need to watch more than just your back." Steff then retired to her room for the night.

Meanwhile, Marcus entered the Demolitions room and laid his weapons and effects onto the one bed. He did his best to be quiet, seeing that the demo-woman was sleeping peacefully. Last he removed his necklace, a chain with a topaz-studded silver cross given to him by his dearest friend. He held the cross in the palm of his hand, only to clutch it shut. One tear fell from his closed eyelid, "I miss you." Marcus went to place the necklace on the nearby nightstand, but it fumbled out of his fingers. It then hit the floor, letting out a faint clank and rattle. Marcus tried to sneak over and pick up the necklace, but it was too late.

Agatha sat up in her bed, "What the- who's there? You can either come out or die, it's your choice!"

Figuring that hiding wouldn't help him here, Marcus turned on the light to show himself. "Hi, I'm sorry if I woke you. I'm Marcus, and it looks like I'm your new roommate for now."

As soon as Agatha fixed her one eye on Marcus, her thoughts ran wild. She quickly jumped out of bed and ran up to Marcus with a wicked grin on her face. She slowly circled Marcus, gently massaging his arms as if she were 'tenderizing' them. "Ooh, those are nice. Do you work out?"

Marcus was slightly trembling from being frisked by Agatha, "Um not really, save for morning warmups. Why?"

Agatha licked her lips and let out a bloodthirsty chuckle, "You look good enough to eat."

It was at that very moment that a high-pitched girly scream echoed throughout the RED base. Shameful that it was not a girl who was screaming. Soon every member inside the base rushed out of their rooms, each of them shouting questions like, "What happened? What was that? Somebody screamed, but who?"

"Calm down guys!" Steff shouted, "I'm there's there's a perfectly good explanation for-" She was interrupted by another scream, followed by an 'Oh God, I'm gonna die!' It was coming from the Demolitions room. Steff signaled KI-11 with a nod, and with that the heavy crashed down the door. What they saw was a rather unnerving, and yet humorous sight. Marcus had somehow climbed partway up the wall, only with Agatha's mouth wrapped around his foot.

"Aggy!" Steff shouted, upset, "Is that how you treat a fellow soldier?"

"But Steff," she said in a muffled whine, the foot still in her mouth, "he's delicious!"

"Be it as it may, we need him alive and in one piece." Steff answered sternly, "Aggy, let him go."

Agatha let out a groan, "Fine..." and took her mouth off of Marcus, "But don't call me Aggy!"

"Marcus." Steff called to the now pale white scout, "It's okay, you can come down now."

Marcus did so, but only because he lost his grip on the wall. He landed face-down on the linoleum with a loud- SMACK! Marcus then rose to his feet, infuriated. "What kind of team is this? You have a dog for a medic-"

"Wolf." Geo corrected.

"Whatever! Your engineer is a freakish chupa-chalupa cat-woman thing, and your heavy is a tin-can with a minigun!"

KI-11 look as if he was about to cry, only to pick Marcus by his shirt, "You think you are funny, little man? I will show you something funny!" He raised his fist to strike, only to be held back by Steff.

"Enough of that!" Steff shouted, "KI, we need him to get that intel. Please, put him down. Once he has it, he'll be gone for good."

The heavy lowered his fist, "He not bother me again if he gets intel?"

Steff nodded, "I promise, he'll be gone as soon as he gets the briefcase."

KI-11 glared at Marcus, "Little man is lucky. Be thankful that this 'tin-can' has a heart!" Afterwords he slowly put Marcus down.

Marcus brushed off his shoulder, "And I'm not even gonna bother with the one-eyed cannibal." He avoided eye contact with Agatha.

"Hey, zombies have to eat too you know!" the demo-girl yelled.

Marcus had had enough, "Oh zombies now, is it? That does it, I'm going to find that intel my own way! There's no sense in trusting a bunch of freaks like you guys!"

BOOM! The ground shook as the team lost their footing. "Okay, what was that?" Steff asked, a little unnerved.

"Well it sure as heck isn't a parade!" Marcus answered sarcastically, "We're obviously under attack. Someone must know we're here."

Steff however disagreed, "Now how could that be? No one else knows you're here. Do they?"

Marcus and Danny looked around themselves, and then at each other, "Blues." they said to one another. It seems their plans would have to change after all.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	5. Chapter 5: Meet The Teams Part 2

Chapter 5: Meet The Teams Part 2

The ground continued to shake and quake from the explosions that followed. The RED team quickly donned their uniforms and grabbed their weapons, quickly making their way towards the base entrance.

"I still don't get it!" Steff shouted while running, "Why are they attacking now? And at this early? It's ridiculous!"

"I don't care why," Marcus followed, "I just want to know how to stop them!"

"I hope you have a plan, mate!" Danny joined in as they neared the entrance.

"If I don't, then I'll make one!" Marcus answered with pride. His confidence however was completely blown away as the two teams reached the entrance. What they saw was extraordinary- a giant turret, armed with an arsenal of deadly weaponry, almost like an overgrown sentry gun.

Marcus could only stare at the monstrosity, "God help us."

"Crikey!" Danny exclaimed, nearly jumping out of his skin, "What in bloomin' 'eck is that?"

Steff narrowed her sight towards the base of the sentry. There at the controls was the BLU engineer, a gryphon of all things, manually bombarding the RED outpost. "Zara." She uttered grimly.

"Alright, we can work this out." Marcus started, "Steff I'm going to need you to-" He paused and looked over to see Steff already attempting to flank the turret. "Girls." he grunted, "Danny, cover me. I'll be right back." He then rushed after Steff.

Danny chuckled as he raised readied his sniper rifle, "Go get her, mate."

Marcus raced at a frightening speed, hoping to catch up with Steff, "Steff, what are you doing? Get back here!" He shouted, but it was no use, Steff just kept running.

Steff was determined to stop the 'gryphoneer' dead in her tracks, "This time you've gone too far." She drew a baseball from the pouch on her belt, and prepared to swing, "Alright, play ball."

"Steff, get outta there!" Marcus called after her, "Are you nuts? Get out of there!" Unfortunately, Zara had very sharp hearing. She looked over to see Steff about to pitch a ball her way. Immediately she turned the entire turret rig to face her RED foe. Steff's eyes widened from the turning of the tables, causing her to drop her ball. She wanted to run, but she was practically frozen to the ground. Zara's systems were armed and ready to kill, so she fired a short burst. To her surprise, it was not Steff who took the hit, but rather a certain someone who tackled her out of the way. It was Marcus, who now was not only mad, but had a few bullets in his leg. To avoid further injury, Steff crawled out from under him and carefully dragged him behind the rocks.

"Why did you do that?" Steff argued, "I had it under control, and now look what you did!"

Marcus winced in pain, only to let out a tense- "You're welcome."

Steff became overwhelmed with frustration, "So now what? We're pinned down behind here with no way out!"

"Alright, relax." Marcus tried to calm her down, "You know the BLU team right? Do you know if any of them have weaknesses? Soft spots?"

"No, I-" She caught herself, a moment of genius echoed in her skull, "I've got an idea." For the first time, she actually activated her earpiece, hoping to send a message to her friend. "Angie? Angie, it's Steff! Listen to me I need you to do exactly as I say!"

Meanwhile as Zara pelted the base with her devilish machine, the other BLU team members attempted to sneak around the back-way. KT, the BLU pyro, primed her flamethrower and strapped on her mask, soon to be followed by the team's demo-man Reggie. However, neither of them were aware that Manuel was waiting for them. "Try this one on for size, gringo." Manuel smirked as he lit one of his special firecrackers. He violently threw it away, causing it to land at Reggie's feet, "Fuego en el agujero!"

"Huh?" Reggie muttered. Just then he looked down on the ground, "Holy cra-" BOOM! Reggie was knocked back a few feet by the blast. But he got right back up, bruised and now enraged. "Two can play at that game! Eat this, farm-boy!" Reggie fired a couple grenades inside the rear entrance where Manuel hid, forcing him to come out of hiding. Reggie then charged towards Manuel's position, "Say adios, loser!"

Manuel lay on the ground as he watched the BLU demo-man storming in his direction, only to shout out, "Now hermano!"

Reggie halted his charge and switched his gaze to the rear entrance again. There was Carlos, with the wrench tight in his hand. Carlos lifted his arm and threw the wrench with a spin on it. Reggie responded to this by leaning out of the tool's path. "Oh come on, is that all you got? I thought Hispanics were wild! But you two don't look so loco to-" Reggie wasn't able to finish his little monologue, as the wrench had somehow returned and struck him in the head.

Carlos pulled off the glove on his outstretched hand, revealing a bionic arm. The wrench instantly returned to that hand, like foil to a magnet. "That loco enough for you, compadre?" Carlos grinned with craftiness in his eyes.

KT was about to go in after her friend, "Hang on, Reggie! I'm coming!" but some 'invisible' force held her back. That invisible force however had a familiar voice.

"Wait here," the voice echoed in the air, "I'll handle it."

Manuel and Carlos closed in to check on their unconscious victim. "Make sure he's dead." Manuel said firmly to his brother. Carlos winced at having to do the dirty work, but proved himself loyal to the team. He cocked his shot gun and prepared to finish off the demo-man. Just then, a strange thing happened. Reggie's body seemed to magically lift in the air.

"Mi Dios!" Carlos freaked out. "Brother, que te paso?"

"Who cares?" Manuel answered, "Just shoot him!" Carlos obeyed and opened fire, but the floating body was immediately swept away. "What in the world just happened?"

"No se, mi hermano." Carlos replied.

"Is he alright?" KT asked with concern, as the invisible force revealed himself. It was the BLU spy, who had somehow managed to lift the dense-weighted demoman.

"He'll be alright." The spy responded, "As long as the medic doesn't try to treat him."

KT smiled with relief behind her mask, "Thank you." The spy didn't say a word, and instead vanished into thin air again.

"Did some-vone call me?" Setsuna said, peeking her head out from the BLU base. "Oh dear, vat happened to him?" A malicious smile formed on her face, "Does he need my assistance?"

"Uh, no Setsuna." KT held Reggie's body tighter, as if to shield him. "He um, he fainted."

"Oh." Setsuna said with disappointment, "It's a shame, I do need practice you know. Let me know ven some-vone does need me." And with that, she back inside the base, laughing all the way down.

KT wiped the sweat from the side of her mask, "That was too close."

"You want me to do what?" Angie's eyes bugged out as she listened to Steff over the radio, "You're kidding right? Tell me your joking!"

"Listen Angie, I'm pinned down right now! You and I both know that Zara hates rodents. We can use Skip to get her away from the turret so we can shut it down!"

"But Steff," Angie complained, "Skip is a-"

"I know that!" Steff answered angrily, "Use your imagination! It's our only chance, Angie! If you don't do it soon, me and shorty here are gonna be toast!"

"What was that last part?" Marcus' voice came over the radio for a moment, "Who are you calling shorty? You're definitely one to talk, you blonde-haired blondie girly, blonde blonde!"

"Just do it Angie!" Steff shouted, "I gotta go!" And within that same moment, she signed off. Steff then glared over at Marcus, "What is your problem? Can't you just work with me for five minutes?"

Marcus however wouldn't admit his faults, "Hey, you started it! You called me short!"

"So what?" Steff snapped, "I call my brother Jamie short all the time!"

"Hello? I am NOT your brother!"

"But you're a fellow soldier, and you're working with my team now! That means you'll do it my way! Now shut up and pay attention. Once Zara is off the turret, I have to go up and disable it."

"What about me?" Marcus asked.

"You are going to stay here and try not to take any more bullets." Steff responded sternly, "And if I catch you so much as trying to move, I'll shoot you myself."

Marcus didn't like the fact that he could do nothing, but he still submitted himself, "Alright, but please be careful."

"Hmph! Since when would you care?" Steff scoffed, readying her bat.

"I- I uh" Marcus stuttered, "I- I- I ai yai yai yai."

Steff turned her head back to watch for Angie, "Pfft, boys." She muttered under her breath. That was when she saw Angie launch a large furry creature from a rudimentary slingshot she had whipped up from some spare cables and her bandana.

Zara was about ready to fire the largest cannon she had on her invention. But as she looked through the sights, she spotted something weird coming right at her, "What in the name of-" She ended up being knocked right out of her seat, by what appeared to be a ginormous rat, "Aah! Get it off me!" Zara screamed, scrambling about with the critter on her face.

Steff tried to hold in her laughter, "Nice shot, Angie." She said through her earpiece.

"Thanks," Angie responded joyfully, "Now get going!"

Steff quickly ran up to the turret's control panel and tried to shut it off, with no success. She then drew her bat and struck the controls, hoping to smash them... Nothing happened. She struck even harder, still nothing. She ultimately lost it, and on her third try, slammed the bat down so hard that it splintered into pieces. On top of that, the control panel was still undamaged. "Well that's just great! Now what am I supposed to do?"

"Stand back and enjoy the show." Marcus answered from behind her, "Relax blondie, I'll take care of it."

Steff raised her brow in confusion, "But how?"

Marcus extended his collapsible baseball bat, and then pressed a switch on the handle. Out of the top of the bat released a small blade, "Just step aside, will you?"

Steff obeyed at the sight of the 'knife' and moved over. Marcus then limped over to the machine, and drove the blade right into the screen on the control panel. To his surprise, the machine did not shut down. What happened to Marcus was that he received a big jolt of electricity. Steff quickly ran over to Marcus to help him, "Yeah, very smart to use a _metal_ blade on an electrical device!"

"*cough* My bad. *cough*" Marcus wheezed, "I've got an idea, why don't we just push the 'off' button?"

"It doesn't have one, genius!" Steff bellowed.

Marcus tried to think harder, "I got it! It's a sentry, right? It must have a self-destruct switch!"

Steff agreed, but did not share any optimism, "That would mean Zara has it. Feel free to go and ask her for it!"

Marcus looked over to see the BLU engineer still struggling with the 'rat'. "Alright, I will." Marcus then hobbled along until he was right next to Zara, who failed to pry the 'rodent' off of her face, "Hey, excuse me? Yeah I just wanted to blow up your sentry-thingy, so don't mind if I borrow this." Marcus grabbed the remote off of Zara's belt and quickly went for cover.

Steff became suspicious when she saw Marcus wasn't coming back her way, "Marcus, where are you going?"

"Jump clear, Steff." Marcus' voice uttered into her earpiece, "It's gonna blow."

"Huh?" Steff grew even more confused. The confusion was resolved when she saw the remote in Marcus' hand, and then saw the sentry behind her. "Oh my God, he's even worse than my brother." Steff immediately ran as far as she could and jumped into a nearby trench.

Once Marcus saw that Steff had cleared the sentry, he pressed his thumb down on the remote's huge red button. The resulting explosion shook the entire base, and dozens of sentry parts and scrap-iron began raining down. "Now that's what I call fireworks."

Zara finally ripped the 'rodent' off of her face, only to observe her creation, now in shambles. "No fair!" She shouted. Seeing she might be captured, she quickly retreated back to BLU base before anyone could notice.

Steff slowly emerged from the trench, witnessing the metal parts falling from the heavens. "He did it. I can't believe he did it."

"Oh come on Steff, it wasn't that hard!" Marcus laughed, "Thanks to your overgrown lab-rat that is."

Steff looked over at the 'rodent' beside her, "Skip, is that you?" The creature did not make the sound of a rat, however. It was more of a cooing sound. "Wait a second." She leaned down and gripped a portion of the 'rat's' face. She pulled off that portion of the thing's face, only to reveal that it wasn't a face at all. It was a paper mask with a rat's face printed on it. Skip's true form then exposed itself, revealing a red-colored amphibian. "There you are! Wait, how did you- No, on second thought, I don't even wanna know."

Marcus squinted his eyes, "What is that thing? A salamander?"

"An axolotl." Steff corrected, "Skip is our team mascot. You obviously can tell why."

Marcus looked at Steff with her red shirt, and then at Skip, "No, I can't."

"I guess Ian made a special mask for Skip to wear." Steff chuckled, "Well Ian, that's the first nice thing you've done for a change."

Marcus then walked over to Steff, dragging his foot. "I think I need a vacation." He joked, hoping to lighten Steff up about earlier.

Steff had an evil twinkle in her eye, "Marcus, I know exactly what you need." She pulled out her pistol and began shooting at Marcus' feet.

Marcus hopped back and forth, trying to protect his feet, "Hey, quit it!"

Steff paused her firing, "I told you if you so much as moved, I would shoot you myself."

Marcus was disgusted by Steff's attitude, "That's a funny way to say 'Thank you for saving my sorry behind', isn't it?"

"And that's another thing!" Steff growled, "Why did you do that?"

"Oh you mean, why did I get myself shot for saving an ungrateful little girl?" Marcus continued, "That's a good question! I'm starting to wonder why myself!"

Steff believed she had then caught onto the BLAC scout, "If you were doing it to impress me, believe me, it worked! I'm impressed they even allowed an idiot like you on your own team!"

Marcus felt the sting of such insult, "What? You think I did that for you? If I had a choice, I'd let that 'chickeneer' handle you while I sit and watch with some popcorn!"

"I bet you would!" Steff roared, "If there ever was a girl on your team, you probably would get her killed!"

"Enough!" Marcus angrily raised his arm as if to strike Steff, but instead let out a sigh and let it back down, "You have NO idea." Marcus said, tears forming in his eyes, "You hear me? None!"

Steff however didn't understand, "What are you saying?"

"She's- she's- " Marcus couldn't get himself to answer her, "Just leave me alone!" He tried stumbling away, but sadness and injury brought him to the ground.

"Marcus?" Steff went over to help, "Marcus, she's what? What is she? I want to know."

"She's- dead- because of me. She's dead- because I failed to do my duty." Marcus couldn't stand it any longer and burst into tears, "It's all my fault!"

Steff then realized what she had just done. She looked at the weeping scout, sighed with regret, and then held him. "Hey- hey I'm sorry. I didn't know. Hey, it's okay. Come on, let's get you fixed up. You can tell me later, okay?"

Marcus nodded and whispered a light "Okay." With that, Marcus and Steff slowly made their way back to RED base. Unknown to them however, they were being watched.

The mysterious figure yet again radioed his superior, "General, we have a problem." It's looks like he's giving information to the enemy."

"Well then stop him, before he gives away too much! I don't care what it takes, just do it!"

"Yes General." The figure replied, "It shall be done."


	6. Chapter 6: The Truth Hurts

Chapter 6: The Truth Hurts

Johnny watched from a distance as Marcus and Steff were slowly making their way back to the RED base. He knew he couldn't miss a chance like this, to hit the enemy when they're vulnerable. However, he was well out of range. Fortunately, he knew someone whose range had no limit. He quickly rushed inside his base and called for the BLU sniper, "Blaze, get up top quick! They're getting away!"

Blaze sat in the rec room playing cards with Kia, the BLU soldier, and the RED soldier, Jamie, who was also Steff's younger brother. Jamie tried to look over Kia's shoulder, "Any threes?"

Kia shook her head, "Nope, go fish."

"Nuts!" Jamie shouted as he drew a card from the deck. "I hope you guys don't mind having me over, I know I probably shouldn't."

"Nah, you're fine." Blaze added, "It's not like our teams are in a firefight or something."

Jamie laughed, "Yeah, that would suck."

Just then Johnny burst into the room, "I hate to intrude, but- THE ENEMY IS GETTING AWAY!"

Blaze turned her head to face Johnny, "What? You mean we're on duty right now?"

"You nit-wit, we've been on duty since three in the morning! Now hurry, and get up topside!"

Blaze seemed a little hurt by Johnny's humorless outburst, "You don't have to yell Johnny, I'm on it." And like that she grabbed her rifle and took the ladder leading to the roof.

"So," Johnny started as he sat down at the table, "Who was winning?"

"Blaze was the closest." Kia answered with a polite shrug.

Johnny looked around for a moment, and then picked up Blaze's card hand, "In that case, you got any jacks, Jamie? What the- JAMIE? Kia, what is he doing here?"

"He couldn't sleep, so he came over to spend some time with us." Kia responded, "Is there a problem?"

"OF COURSE THERE'S A PROBLEM!" Johnny screamed, "HE'S RED!"

Jamie was getting a little annoyed at the freaking out scout, "Johnny, you need to chill, seriously."

"You can chill, in a prison cell!" Johnny shouted as he grabbed Jamie away from the table. "You're coming with me!"

Kia watched Johnny drag Jamie down to the brig until they both disappeared from sight. Kia then looked at the hand Jamie had dropped, only to see that Jamie already had four threes. "JAMIE!"

Meanwhile Blaze crept onto the roof and looked around the perimeter. That was when she spotted Marcus and Steff limping towards the base, "Alright, let's just try and- scare them a bit. You can do this Blaze, just concentrate." She narrowed her sight through her scope and started to squeeze the trigger, but something went wrong. A shot echoed through the air, but it wasn't hers. She felt the bullet whiz by her head, severing a small lock of her hair. "What the-" she screamed, only to hear laughing in the distance. She looked through her sights over to where she heard the laugh. There stood a sniper clad in black.

It was Danny, who arrogantly blew a kiss and waved at her, "Close call, eh love?"

Blaze quickly chambered another round and took aim, "You think that's a close call? I'll show you close!"

Danny would have continued his taunting, but another shot rang out. This one Danny felt race across his scalp as it pierced his hat, knocking it clean off his head. "Blazes!" he shouted, "What was that?"

Blaze's eyes widened from hearing Danny's faint voice, "He knows my name? Wait a second-" She looked over to see that Marcus and Steff were gone. They had returned safely to the base. "Oh, men! Wait, if he knows my name and he's in RED base, maybe he knows Dillon." An evil grin crossed her face, "Ooh, Dillon is going to be so jealous!"

Danny quickly picked up his hat and looked back at the BLU team's rooftop, only to see Blaze crazily leaping down to the ground. "What on earth is that sheila doing?" Before he knew it, Blaze ran up to him and threw her arms around him, "Oi, what's all this?"

"Oh, I knew someday I'd find you!" Blaze faked her giggles, "It was only a matter of time! But I knew that you'd come!"

Danny's eyebrow twitched, as it always does when he's nervous or angry, or in this case, uncomfortable. "Right, that's nice. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back inside." Danny started to walk towards the base, but Blaze still clung to him. "Yeah, you can let go now." Danny tried again, but Blaze was like a barnacle, "Oh, come on!"

"Ooh, this is your base?" Blaze said, pretending she had never been inside, "I'd like to see it! Can I come in? Can I?"

"Um, that might not be a good idea." Danny politely protested as he tried to pry her off gently.

"Aww, why not?" Blaze took her glasses off and flashed her bright eyes. "Please?"

Danny tried hard, but couldn't resist such an innocent face, "Oh, alright! But can you please let me go?"

In an instant, Blaze released her grip on Danny, "Oh right, sorry."

Danny tilted his head in the direction of the base entrance, "Follow me, but keep very quiet." And so Blaze and Danny proceeded downward into RED base.

"Gah! Watch it, that hurts!" Marcus yelled as Geo removed one of the bullets.

"Will you relax, Marcus? Steff silenced him, "Geo is a trained professional."

"Not bad for an animal who can't remember where his bone was buried, wouldn't you say?" Geo joked as he pulled out another bullet.

Marcus winced in pain, "Look, I'm sorry about that! Okay? But seriously, this hurts!"

"You're sorry?" Geo smiled with sarcasm, "That's unusual coming from a man of your expertise."

Steff nodded in agreement, "It is strange."

Marcus wasn't willing to play gamed, "Will you knock it off? It's true, I shouldn't have said those things, but I did! And I'm sorry! You- you were-"

"I was what?" Geo raised his brow, anxious to hear what would happen next. At the same time, he drew out the last bullet.

"You were right, and I was wrong." Marcus exhaled, "I had no right to say that about you, or any of your teammates."

"They are not just teammates, Marcus." Geo concluded, "They are my friends. When you hurt them, you were hurting me. But I know now that you truly have apologized for your actions. And I want you to know that I accept it. Steff, you can give him the anesthetic. I have other wounds to tend to." Geo lied with a wink as he left the room.

Steff grabbed some morphine from the medicine cabinet and walked over to Marcus, who lay on the operating table. "Wow, you actually apologized. How did it feel?"

"Like a bullet being ripped out of my leg." Marcus remarked in return.

Steff let out a loud laugh, "Well, it wasn't easy for you. I'll give you that much."

"Why do I get the feeling this isn't what you want to talk about?" Marcus asked.

Steff prepared a needle with the morphine, "You're right. I wanna talk about the truth. There's more to it than just the briefcase, isn't there?"

Marcus grunted softly, "His name is Little, Bryton Little. Or at least that's who he says he is. We call him the General. He's the one responsible for sending us here." Marcus however was cut off a bit, as Steff stuck the needle into his leg.

"Go on." Steff requested.

"Well, I should probably start from the beginning. BLAC team is a compilation of all the outcasts from both teams. In turn we are used to carry out special purpose missions. If we win, we don't get paid. And if we lose, a member is executed. We're basically cannon fodder."

Steff seemed surprised, "But the card the spy gave me said that you were-"

"Do you believe everything you see written on paper?" Marcus chuckled a bit, "Anyone can make those if they have the right resources. We're not special forces, Steff. We're the rejects."

Steff's curiosity grew, "But how did you-"

"How did I get in that position?" Marcus interrupted, "That wasn't too hard, really. I was a member of RED team once too, you know."

Thrill seemed to flood Steff's eyes for a moment, "You were?"

Marcus nodded, "Yep, one of the best."

Steff seemed to understand a bit, "So, what happened?"

"Pure and simple, I opened the case. It was the first time I had personally captured one, so I became very curious. When I finally did get it open, I didn't like what I saw."

"Why, what was in it?"

"All of the entry forms from when me and my team signed up for RED. All of them were stamped with the mark 'EXPENDABLE'."

Steff gasped, fearing that her team might share that fate, "What happened then?"

"The Administrator, you know, the boss lady, she couldn't find a way to kill me and keep her own hands clean. So instead, I was court-martialed for treason. Not long afterwords, I came across Danny. He too was new to the whole thing, but he introduced me to BLAC team. I have been on that team ever since, for four years-"

"That's all well and good, but what made the General send you here?" Steff asked impatiently, "I'm sorry, I should-"

"No, no it's alright." Marcus tried to calm her, "I- well, I'll just say it. I screwed up on our last mission. There are three cases that the General wants for himself. I almost had one of them, but a sniper took a crack at me on the bridge. Lucky for me he missed, unlucky for my team I dropped the case off of the bridge. Little doesn't tolerate failure, someone would have to die to satisfy him." He let out a sigh, "It should have been me that day."

"It was her, wasn't it? Steff slowly cleaned the bullet holes in Marcus' leg. "That girl you mentioned earlier?" Marcus only answered with a nod. "What was her name?" Marcus at first didn't answer. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be asking about this." She stood up and started to leave.

"It was Rachel." Marcus said aloud, "She was our team's pyro."

Steff halted and turned back to Marcus, "Well, I bet she was lovely."

"Actually, she was stubborn and hard-headed just like you." Marcus laughed. "She looked like you too. She just wore her hair different."

"Is that why you tackled me out there?" Steff queried, "Is that why you've kept your eyes on me all this time? Marcus, I promise you I'm not Rachel."

"I know you aren't. I saved you out there because- because-"

"Because?" Steff continued.

"Because I could. Regardless of how much you remind me of Rachel, I saved you for the sake of saving you. I've lost two teammates already Steff, God forbid that I should lose another for my failures."

A strange feeling entered Steff's heart. For the first time in her life, she wasn't sure what to say. "I- I- I have to go." She started to leave again, only to turn back and gently kiss Marcus on the cheek, "Thank you." She whispered. However, Steff was unable to leave the room as Danny soon blocked the doorway. Wrapped around him yet again was Blaze, who was as giggly as ever.

"Right, can someone please tell me how to get her off of me?" Danny asked in desperation.

Steff and Marcus both laughed their heads off. Marcus began to tease, "I dunno Danny, she might be that one girl-."

"Don't feed me that, mate!" Danny argued, "Just please, get her off!"

"Blaze, could you let him go now please?" Steff asked kindly.

Blaze happily agreed, "Sure thing, why didn't you say so?"

"I asked you the entire way down here." Danny grumbled.

"You have to do it nicely." Steff answered with an insulting laugh.

"I was nice enough!" Danny complained, "I am plenty nice to-"

Danny was cut off when a familiar figure burst into the room, covered in burn marks. "Jacques?" Marcus grew worried when the BLAC spy collapsed to the floor.

Steff ran over and checked his pulse, "He's pretty beat up, we'll need Geo."

It was then Marcus did something he shouldn't. He got off of the table, and tried walking over towards Jacques. Marcus obviously fell down, but continued to drag his body until he got right next to the spy. "Jacques what happened? Who did this?"

Jacques however seemed delusional, he only let out a raspy, "You traitor."

Who knows what the spy meant by his random statement. Only time and effort will reveal the truth...


	7. Chapter 7: Friend or Foe?

Chapter 7: Friend or Foe?

"There, try standing on that." Geo said as he finished patching Marcus' leg.

Marcus stood up and walked around the room with ease, "That's good, very good."

Geo smiled with amazement, seeing Marcus had made a fairly quick recovery, "Just don't go running on it, or it will delay the healing process."

"Will do, doc." Marcus replied, looking around the room, "How is he?"

"Jacques is stable for now." Geo started, "He's lucky to be alive, after going through all that."

"What exactly did he go through?" Marcus asked with concern.

Geo rubbed his chin for a moment, "After scrutinizing the burns on his clothing, I'd say he had a brush with plastic explosives, or possibly even a charge made with pure RDX."

"Hmm, pretty strong stuff." Marcus nodded, "Wait, how did you-"

"Jared helped me out. Your medic is a bright boy, even for his age. And of all things, he just happened to be a biochemistry major."

Marcus chuckled, "Yeah, that sounds like Jared all right. Can I talk to Jacques now?"

Geo thought carefully, "Alright, but be careful. He was a little out of his head earlier. I'd recommend that Steff goes in with you."

Marcus agreed and turned over to Steff, "Let's get going. Ladies first."

Steff however caught on quickly, "In that case, why aren't you going already?"

"That's not funny." Marcus smirked, "Let's just get going, eh blondie?"

"After you, bean sprout." Steff responded humorously.

As they both began to walk down the hallway to see Jacques, Marcus continued the argument, "Goldilocks!"

"Larva boy!"

"Fool's gold!"

Geo watched as the two disappeared around the corner, "Well what do you know, like charges attract one another after all." He chuckled as he started to follow after them.

Steff and Marcus tried to silence each other before entering the room where Jacques lay. What they saw was surprising, Jacques sat up, acting as if he wasn't even scratched. "If you have something to say, say it." He said to the both of them.

"What happened?" Marcus asked sternly, "The medic said something about explosives."

Jacques didn't hesitate to answer, "Well, while you were busy playing lover boy with the blonde, I actually discovered something."

Marcus marched toward Jacques menacingly, "Why you I oughta-" only to be held back by Steff.

"What did you find?" Steff queried.

"Gentlemen- and lady," Jacques corrected himself, "I have reason to believe that there is a spy in our midst." At that moment, Geo, Steff, and Marcus all fixed their eyes on Jacques, "What?"

"How do we know that you didn't plant the charge in the first place?" Marcus asked interrogatively.

Jacques took offense to that question, "Do you really think I'd be stupid enough to get blown up by my own bomb?" Marcus only responded with a glare, "On a mission this important?"

"The spy has a point." Geo concluded, "Your mission is a little too vital to make a careless mistake. Maybe you should just let him speak."

Marcus couldn't disagree at that point, "Alright then, what did happen?"

"Well, I was coming to warn you, but you had already went inside the base. I decided to go in through the rear entrance, and that's when I saw this guy attaching something to the wall outside the munitions room. I tried to stop him, but he disappeared."

"Any idea on who it was?" Marcus interrupted.

"Quiet, just let him speak." Steff shushed.

Jacques proceeded to tell his story, "I then ran up to that portion of the wall, only to find out he had planted a timed RDX compound charge. I tried getting rid of it, but as I threw it away from me, it detonated. Fortunately for me, I only got some bruises and burns. It could have been way worse believe you me. That kind of explosive is state-of-the-art. Our group is the only team actually authorized to use it."

Marcus rubbed his fingers for a moment, "Well, that's proves we have a traitor. It doesn't tell us who though."

"Of course it does!" Steff argued, "Explosives? Demolitions? It was a man? DEMO-MAN?"

Marcus shook his head, "Hate to break it to you Steff, but all BLAC members are trained to use this stuff. That, and we're all guys."

Steff's pride sank a little, "So? That doesn't mean it wasn't him!"

Marcus smacked his forehead, "I swear, can't you admit you're wrong for once?"

Steff paused, and slowly started to speak, "I am w-wr-wro-wron-wri-right. I still think it's your Demo-man!"

"Oh come on, even I admitted when I was wrong!" Marcus complained.

"Actually," Jacques intervened calmly, "I do remember that he had long hair."

Marcus raised his brow at Jacques, and then glanced at Steff, who had an 'I told you so' look on her face, "That narrows it down to either Isaac or Manuel."

"It could still be me." Jacques added, but his accent was gone, "I have long hair too." Jacques slowly removed the mask from his head, to reveal a very familiar face.

"Jack?" Marcus' eyes widened at sight of the unmasked spy, who bore a resemblance to him.

"Surprised, brother?" Jack chuckled.

Marcus however lashed out at him, "You son of a- you liar, I'll kill you!"

Geo held Marcus down, "Easy, easy! Marcus, control yourself!"

Marcus eventually settled down, but was still furious, "How dare you even show your face to me! All this time, I thought you were dead! But in reality, you just ran out on mom and me!"

"Marcus, I had to leave." Jack tried to explain, "If I didn't, Little would have come for you too."

"Well he came for me now, didn't he?" Marcus yelled, "I swear, I thought dad was bad when he left mom with a broken heart. But you, you're worse than the General!" Marcus then stormed out of the room.

Steff let out a sigh of frustration, "I'll be back in a minute." and followed after Marcus. Being one of the fastest scouts, Steff took little time to catch up with Marcus in the hallway. "Marcus? Marcus! Hey, wait for me."

"Go away." Marcus barked as he kept walking down the hall, "You're the last thing I need right now."

Steff didn't take kindly to those words, "What a nice thing to say to your friend who's trying to help!"

Marcus turned back to face her, "My friends are dead! I told you once, don't make me tell you again."

"Yes, they are dead." Steff stated, "But when your old friends are gone, you make new ones! At least be thankful that I'm offering to be your friend!"

"Every friend I make dies, Steff." Marcus answered painfully, "You say you're my friend, and even you almost died today. I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I can't tell friends from enemies any more. My brother became the General's lapdog, and he didn't even care how I felt about it when he left! What's worse, mom couldn't deal with it! She turned a gun on herself while I was at school! What a great thing to come home to, wouldn't you say? So thanks, but no thank you. I'm through with making friends." He began marching down the hall once again.

Steff grabbed hold of Marcus' arm, "I'm not giving you a choice, Marcus. We need you to get that briefcase. Whether the General gets it or not, that's your choice. But you're coming back, like it or not."

"Leave- me- alone." Marcus growled coldly as he jerked his arm free.

Steff pulled out her pistol, "Don't make me do this Marcus."

Marcus scoffed with a bitter laugh, "You won't shoot me."

"And why wouldn't I?" Steff asked nervously, the pistol shaking in her hands. She inched her way closer till the gun was right behind his head.

Marcus whipped around and grabbed the pistol, "Because I won't let you. Marcus then tore it from Steff's fingers, "I've made my choice Steff, it's time for you to make yours." He slowly handed the gun back to her, and walked away.

"What are you going to do?" Steff shouted.

"I'm going to finish this, this is between Little and me. No one else is going to get in the way."

Steff knew she couldn't let Marcus get away, so she did the unthinkable. She charged and tackled Marcus, knocking him to the ground. "No, you're coming back, and we're going to complete this mission together!" A shot rang out and broke the ambient silence. Steff let out a cry of pain, and looked at her arm. It was bleeding badly, and she began to feel faint.

Marcus watched her fall over, still clutching her wound. He quickly took her body behind cover, "No no no, alright, hang in there Steff. Do you hear me? Come on blondie, don't quit on me now."

"Don't- call me that." Steff grunted.

"Well, my plan sort of worked. But thanks to you, it's now a lot more difficult."

"Plan?" Steff asked confused, "You planned that?"

"Shh, not so loud!" Marcus whispered as he covered the cross around his neck, "Listen carefully, alright? Someone bugged my necklace, that's why I came out here. I don't know how long they've had it rigged, so I don't know how much they've heard. " Marcus carefully looked at the wound, "Aw man, why did you get into this?"

Steff winced a bit, "You mean- you were faking it the whole time? Jacques is still-"

"No he's my brother, but I've known that the very day I started working for BLAC. His accent is too lame to be real, and 'Jacques' is French for Jack. That, and his cigarettes are fake. My brother couldn't smoke to save him."

Steff let out a loud moan,"That's very nice, but- I'm gonna die if you don't shut up and do something."

"Alright, um- dang it Jared, you're never around when I need you! Pressure, that's what we need!" Marcus looked around to make sure no one was coming. He quickly removed his outer shirt, and pressed it against the wound. "Steff, keep the pressure on it, I'll be back."

Steff placed her other hand on the wound with the shirt,"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find that sucker and beat crap out of him!" Marcus answered as he whipped out his collapsible bat. "Alright, where are you?" Marcus placed his hat on top of the bat and held it up in the air, while still remaining under cover. Yet another shot roared, ripping a hole in the scout's cap. Marcus looked in the direction where the shot was heard, only to see a glint of light from the attacker's rifle, "There you are." Marcus threw his cap out in the open, and then darted in the other direction. Marcus then ran around the assassin's flank, slowly but surely sneaking up behind him. The figure turned around just as Marcus leaped in to strike, blocking Marcus' bat with his rifle. Marcus responded by gripping the rifle with one hand and striking the man in the face with the other. The masked being however wasn't phased by the punch, and in return jumped up and kicked Marcus in the chest. The killer then whipped out a knife and slashed Marcus' forearm. This sparked the BLAC scout into a rage, and he began throwing powerful flurries of kicks and punches. The aggression was too much for his opponent, and soon enough Marcus had knocked him off his feet. But Marcus didn't stop there, he was furious from the fact his friend was nearly killed because of him. He continued to strike the man's face, till eventually the solid mask he wore cracked, and broke into pieces. "Alright, answer me! Why are you trying to- no..."

The figure revealed behind the mask was none other than a brutally bruised Manuel, "Lo siento, mi amigo." He said, only to knock the wind out of Marcus with his knee.

Marcus fell over and gasped for air as Manuel got up, and ultimately ran off. "Manuel, come back! Dang it!" He screamed as he started to regain his footing. Holding his gut, he slowly made his way back to Steff.

Fortunately, Geo had found her in the nick of time. He had heard the shots, and came out to see what was happening. "What happened here?" He asked, filled with worry.

Marcus brushed the dust off of his shoulder, "She took a shot for me."

"I can see that." Geo concluded, "What happened to you?"

Marcus took a breath, "I found our traitor."

What could this mean? Who can they trust anymore? Who is their friend, and who is their foe?


	8. Chapter 8: The Case's Purpose

Chapter 8: The Case's Purpose

Johnny slammed his bat against the bars of the brig, "Alright Red, start talking! What were you doing in our base?"

Jamie stuttered a bit, "Well I-I-"

"Shut up! I don't wanna hear a word from you! Were you after the briefcase?"

"No, I was-"

"I told you to shut up! Now, why were you distracting my team with a game of cards?"

Jamie let out a sigh and tried to answer, "I was just having some-"

Johnny silenced him, "Did I say you could talk? Very well, since you won't cooperate, I'll just have to let you rot in your cell. Hope you like it in there, pip-squeak!" Johnny left the room in a matter of seconds.

The RED soldier sat down on the cell floor,"Alright Jamie, think. There's got to be some way out of here. Who am I kidding? I'm screwed." Jamie angrily and hopelessly kicked the cot next to him. Suddenly, the cot began to rattle. The bed lifted itself as the floor collapsed slowly, revealing a hidden staircase. "What have we here? Maybe I'm not so screwed after all." Jamie then slowly crept down the stairwell to find where the passage might lead.

Back inside the RED base's med-bay, Marcus watched Geo and Jared combine their vast intellects to treat Steff's wound. With him were the rest of both RED and BLAC team, all hoping to see their teammate make a full recovery. "Little man?" KI-11 asked Marcus softly, "Will she live?"

Now Marcus was unsure on what the outcome would be. For he earlier had seen the wound start to change color, like an infection almost. However, he responded with an optimistic nod, "She'll be just fine, big guy. She's got two of the best medics working on her."

KI-11 let out what appeared to be a greasy tear from his robotic eye, "In that case, will little man give her this?" He handed Marcus a card, a card labeled 'Get Well Soon'.

Marcus let out a bit of a nervous chuckle, "I will. And I'll let her know it was you, okay?"

KI smiled and patted Marcus' head, "Little man is all right."

"I'm not little, you're just very very big. Got it? I'm not small." Marcus grumbled under his breath.

KI started laughing hysterically as he left the room, "Oh, that slaps me on the knee!" He said as his voice faded.

Marcus' anger slowly subsided, until Angie walked up to him, "So I hear your girlfriend took a bullet for you."

Marcus whirled around to face her, "WHAT? No no no no, she and I are teammates, nothing more and nothing less!"

Angie nodded at him sarcastically, "That's what they all say."

Marcus' face flooded a deep red with blush, "I swear, all you Reds are good at is asking personal questions!"

Angie giggled as she watched the scout's blush intensify, "Speaking of red, you might wanna take a look in the mirror."

Marcus tried rubbing the blush off of his cheeks, but it was no use. He had turned as red as a berry. "Ugh, let me know they're done treating her! I've gotta be somewhere. If they ask for me, leave a message."

"A love message?" Angie raised both of her eyebrows, followed by a grin. Marcus only responded with a frustrated growl, and then he went upstairs to the battlements.

"Hello?" Jamie called softly as he proceeded down the stairs. "Blaze? Kia? Anyone down here?" As he reached the foot of the stairs, the resulting path led to a room filled with large computers. "Whoa, I don't remember this being here." Jamie marveled at the many wonders inside the room, only for his attention to be directed towards a small table. On that table was a shiny blue-colored case. "No way." Jamie laughed with excitement. He then grabbed the case, and darted down the hallway in search of an exit.

Meanwhile, Marcus was fuming as he marched up towards the roof of RED base. "A love message?" He mocked, trying to talk in Angie's voice, "How dare her to think I would be so-ugh-unprofessional! She- she- dang it, she's right. But it's not that simple. If she hasn't noticed, there's a bit of a war going on. There will be a time for that sorta thing, but right now I'm interested in the brief-" Marcus' monologue was cut off by the sound of gunfire in the distance. Hearing this, he rushed towards the roof to see what was happening.

"Marcus, get up here, quick!" Danny called with Blaze close to his side, "You know lass, you don't have to hang on every-" He tried to jerk free, "Will you- STOP! Just let go of me, right now. I do a lot better when you're out of my way!"

Blaze was about to say something, but instead hung her head and went downstairs as Marcus came up. Marcus heard her weeping as they crossed each other. "What's wrong with her, Danny?"

Danny let out an angered sigh, "Nothing, just- nothing. Did you hear the shot?"

Marcus nodded in agreement, "Yeah, sounded like it was over from the BLU base." More shots rang out. Marcus and Danny rushed to the rooftop and look towards the BLU base entrance. There was Jamie, dodging pistol fire from the BLU scout, all while carrying an object in his hands. "Danny, who's that down there?"

"Um," Danny looked through the scope of his rifle, "You're not going to believe this one mate. The little snot has the briefcase."

"What?" Marcus' eyes widened, "Danny, lay down some cover fire. I'm going in!" And in an instant, Marcus jumped off the rooftop and hit the ground in a roll. He immediately got up and ran towards Jamie's position.

"You runt, give it back!" Johnny shouted as he fired another burst of shots.

"I'll give it back, I just wanna borrow it for a bit!" Jamie yelled back as he continued to run. Jamie however fumbled the case as he was running, only for it to be caught by Marcus, who also kicked Jamie's feet out from under him.

Marcus then dragged Jamie into the nearby trench for safety. "Are you hurt?" Marcus asked the RED soldier.

"Save for the kick you gave me, no. Who are you, anyway?" Jamie remarked as he rubbed the back of his leg.

"No time for jokes and trivia, soldier." Marcus said sternly , holding up the briefcase, "How did you get this?"

"I found it." Jamie answered calmly, "Why? Is something important in there?"

"Very." Marcus responded, "We've got to find a safe way back to RED base."

Jamie hesitated, "Wait... Listen... Do you hear him?"

Marcus listened carefully, "I don't hear anything."

"Exactly." Jamie concluded, "Johnny should have still been calling me names and shooting all over the place. Something's not right."

Marcus readied his bat, "Alright, stay here and protect the briefcase." However, as Marcus started to climb to the top of the trench, a rifle was pointed right into his face. "On second thought, I'll stay here with you."

"Get up, tiny!" The holder of the rifle ordered. It was one of many masked soldiers clad in black body armor, all which had now covered the field. "I said get up!" Marcus calmly obeyed and climbed out of the trench. "You too, junior!" He called to Jamie. Once Jamie rose up though, the legionnaire spotted the case in Jamie's hand. "General, we've got it!"

"General?" Jamie raised an eyebrow.

The question was soon answered as the forces of the Legion separated, and General Little stepped forward, until he was directly in front of Marcus and Jamie. "Well done, Marcus. You actually pulled through for me this time."

Marcus was equally surprised at his superior's presence, "Sir, what are you doing here?"

"Sadly I'm here on business. After my one man failed me, I decided to handle it myself." Soon another soldier brought over a bound and beaten Manuel. "Good help is so hard to find these days."

"We had a deal, Little!" Manuel snarled, "If I got you the case, you'd get me and my brother off the team!"

"Yes, but you didn't get the case, did you?" Little replied with bitterness. "But you can relax Manuel. Now that I have the case, I can get everyone off of my team permanently. And every other team for that matter."

Marcus failed to understand, "What are you saying? How can the case-"

Little let out a sinister laugh, "I forgot to mention it, didn't I? I might as well tell you just so the suspense doesn't kill you before my men do. The case you've brought me contains an unaltered sample of the VX nerve agent. A teaspoon of this gas exploded in the air could probably kill everyone in this base."

"How much is in there?" Jamie asked with a frightened curiosity.

"Enough for me to get my way for the next ten years." The General grinned wickedly. "Boys, at the end of the day, you're gonna have a new Administrator. But I know you Marcus, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to skip to the best part." The General then pulled out his pistol, the same one that killed Rachel. "So long, Marcus." As the General pulled the trigger, Manuel jumped up in front of Marcus and took the bullet- right into his head. Marcus felt that sense of terror course through him again as Manuel dropped dead to the ground. "Oh, why do they always do that?" Little complained, "Oh well, he failed his mission anyway. Lieutenant, have the men pull out. We're done here. I'll be back for you Marcus, so you best leave while you still can." The General then signaled his men to fall back as he himself boarded the nearby helicopter that had just landed for him. Within minutes Little, the Legion, and all of Marcus' hopes were gone.

What was to become of this predicament? Manuel was dead, Steff may be dying, the case was revealed to contain a deadly gas that the General intends to wipe the slate clean with, and all three teams are in cold, painful shambles. What will they do to make things right? Will they do anything at all?


	9. Chapter 9: Joined Forces?

Chapter 9: Joined Forces?

Marcus slowly got back to his feet, only to angrily scream at Manuel's corpse. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT? Huh? It should have been me, not you! Why'd you do it?"

"The same reason that I would have done it, had it been me." Carlos surprised Marcus from behind. He slowly walked up and knelt down beside his deceased brother. Carlos winced from the painful sight, but slowly closed Manuel's eyes with is fingers,"Vaya con Dios, hermano."

Johnny still lay on his knees with his hands behind his head- until he opened his eyes and looked around to see the enemy had left. "YOU!" he shouted at Marcus as he stood up, "You brought those guys here, didn't you? I oughta kill you for what you just pulled!" Johnny then drew his bat and readied to charge Marcus, only to be grabbed by a giant gray arm.

KI-11 held Johnny in the air in front of him, "You will not hurt little man!"

That was when Johnny's backbone kicked in, "Oh yeah? Well you're just gonna have to kill me then!"

KI tightened his grip and raised his fist, "It will be pleasure!"

"KI, stop it! Put him down!" A familiar voice called. The three all looked over to see Steff, who had her arm bandaged, but ready to do damage. Steff shifted her gaze to Marcus, "What happened out here?"

"The General happened." Marcus answered as KI-11 lowered Johnny back to the ground, "He's got that case he wanted, and he's bound and determined to use it. Basically- we're screwed."

"And that's your fault, ya RED team witch!" Johnny shouted at Steff, "You decided to help these guys, and look where that got you!"

In an instant Steff and Johnny butted heads, "How dare you blame me for that! I bet you're just jealous 'cause we kicked your butts earlier!" Steff protested.

Johnny only made the argument worse, "I'll be jealous when you're dead and when I have to take your place!"

Out of nowhere, Jared stepped between the two. "Alright enough!" He yelled coldly, "Steff, you relax. And Johnny, you shut up! Regardless of whether RED team helped us or not, the General would have come anyway."

Steff was still amazed at Jared's unsuspected entrance, "Where did you come from?"

Jared shrugged, "From the tunnel network under the bases. I hid in there when Little's men entered the building. But you're missing the point. Little crossed the line when he killed Uriah, our soldier. But he didn't stop there. Next came Rachel, and now Manuel. He's a madman, and he's got to be stopped! And the only way we can do that is if we work together. No more fighting, and no more strife! Not until the mission is over, got it?"

Steff was stunned at the confident nerve in Jared's words, so in respect she submitted, "Alright, call the others out here."

"What?" Johnny disagreed, "You can't do that Steff! People are dead because of these guys!"

"And we'll join the dead if we don't work together! So please, bear with me for once!"

Johnny still didn't like the idea, but it seemed he had not much of a choice, "Fine, but this is your idea, remember? If something goes screwy, I had nothing to do with it!"

"If something goes screwy Johnny, I won't even mention your name." Steff cleverly remarked. Using their earpieces, the three scouts radioed their teams to come out into the middle of the center-field. Within minutes, every member was present, each asking what happened, and why had soldiers flooded the bases.

"Alright, listen up all of you!" Marcus shouted to gain the attention of the stirring crowd, "We don't have much time, so I'm going to make it pure and simple. My commanding officer has taken the BLU team's briefcase. With it he is going to wipe out the Administrator, and all under her authority- meaning you guys. The only way we can stop him from doing this is if we join forces, and take him down together."

"How do we know you're not feeding us a bunch of bull-crap?" Reggie the BLU demo-man argued.

"You're just going to have to trust me on this one. You can either help me stop the General in his tracks, or you can wait and see what happens when the nerve gas floods this place!" Marcus answered sternly.

Reggie stepped out of the group, "Alright, I say we give the munchkin a chance. Who's with me?"

Marcus was contemplating on whether or not to kill the demo-man, but those thoughts faded when he saw every member of the team step forward. "Alright, let's go get him! But first, we need a plan. Zara?"

The BLU engineer turned towards Marcus, "Yeah?"

"You still have the blueprints to that thing you built earlier?"

Zara nodded, "Of course."

Marcus placed his hand on her shoulder, "I want you to rebuild it, only I want this one to be mobilized."

Zara back away, "Mobilized? But how?" Marcus only gestured over to the bus the BLAC team drove in. A sudden grin crept onto Zara's beak, "Angie, we've got work to do!" Zara and Angie then ran off towards the bus to get started on it.

Marcus then turned to his medic, "Alright Jared, I need you to prepare an antitoxin in case any of us gets too close to that stuff."

"What nerve agent are we talking about exactly? I kinda missed that part." Jared asked.

Marcus immediately responded, "It's VX gas, and he's got a lot of it."

"VX?" Jared yelled, almost hysterically, "IS LITTLE NUTS OR SOMETHING? Marcus, the least we'd need to counter a dose of VX is atropine! And I don't see any mandrakes around here, do you?"

"Vait a minute." Setsuna interrupted politely, "Did you say, atropine?"

"Yes, atropine!" Jared replied, "And that's only one of who knows how many we would need!"

"Vell, I have atropine. I have enough atropine to last a year. I used it mainly ven Blaze had pneumonia, though I think I used too much."

"Did you hear thatt? She's got atropine, she's got atropine!" Jared went ecstatic and, in the spur of the moment, kissed Setsuna passionately on her mouth. "I love you."

Setsuna's eyes however burned with rage, "Kiss me again freak, and I vill amputate your lips!"

Jared immediately settled down, "I've got an idea, let's go get the atropine, okay?"

Marcus, "That would be good seeing we haven't much time. Geo, I need you to go with them."

That was when Setsuna's face lit up, "Yes please come vith us!" She said in a light-headed tone, "The atropine von't carry itself you know." She giggled sinisterly as she stared at Geo with starry eyes.

Geo let out a grunt, "Ugh, I'm going to regret this." and then joined the other two medics on their way to the BLU base.

Marcus then called to the RED team's demolitions expert, "Aggy, I need you to do something for me."

"Does it involve eating someone or blowing them up?" Aggy asked curiously.

Marcus shuddered, "Well it involves dead people. I need you to work some magic on Manuel- zombify him, and don't ask why. All I know is you'll need all the help you can get."

Aggy nodded sheepishly, "Okay, if you're sure. I can't promise he'll be happy when he comes back." She then picked up Manuel's body and went off to bury him.

"Senor, what about me?" Carlos raised an eyebrow.

Marcus paused, and then said, "You best go help Angie and Zara with that- thing-a-ma-bob they're building."

"Si senor." Carlos obeyed and went to help the other engineers.

Marcus then turned to the BLU sniper, "Alright Blaze, I need you and Danny to- Blaze?" she had vanished, "Danny, where's Blaze?"

Danny let out a frustrated sigh, "I think I know. Hang on, I'll be back in a few minutes."

Marcus then went over to the two scouts, "Steff, Johnny, it's gonna be your job to neutralize the VX gas. Once that's done, I'll dispatch Little."

"What about those other guys?" Johnny referenced to the soldiers in black.

"The Legion answers to the General alone." Marcus replied, "If Little dies, they are placed under charge of the Administrator, and she'll disband them."

"Wait," Steff butted in, "you're not going after the General alone, are you?"

Marcus nodded, "I have to Steff, I can't let anyone- not even you- get in the way of things."

"Oh no you don't!" Steff retorted, "I'm coming with you, you can't take him on by yourself! "

"Steff, you can't come with me."

"And why not? Tell me, Marcus! Why can't I come with-" Steff was silenced when Marcus warmly pressed his lips against hers.

Marcus slowly broke away, "I hope that gives you an answer. But if you won't listen- well, I hate to do this again." Marcus then grabbed Steff and put her in another sleeper hold. "Take her with you," He said to Johnny, "but keep her out of harm's way."

Johnny let out a lazy groan and threw Steff's unconscious body over his shoulder, "Hey, she's actually not that heavy." He chuckled. "Alright RED, into the bus we go." He too then left with the RED scout on his back.

Marcus himself sighed and looked around, "Where are you, Danny?"

Meanwhile, Danny climbed up the ladder leading to BLU base's rooftop, only to find Blaze sitting next a crate with her knees against her chest. She appeared almost to be crying a bit. "Mind if I join you?" Danny said softly. Blaze looked at him only for a moment, and shifted her gaze back towards the setting sun. "Listen, I um- I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I didn't mean-"

"But you did." She answered, "And you're right, all I do is get in the way. I'm a lot better when I'm not around you guys."

"Now you listen here, young sheila. You're not to blame here, I am. You have shown me in what little time we have known each other that you can hold your own. Bloomin' 'eck, you're a better shot than me! And I've never missed- er- except once. I'm truly sorry for what I said. I haven't got an excuse on me. So feel free to grab onto me all you like!"

Blaze shook her head, "You don't understand. I don't have an interest in you. I just wanted Dillon to notice me."

"Dillon? The RED bloke who sips coffee? Well why didn't you say so? Ha, I would've helped you out with it! There's no need for all this show-and-tell nonsense!"

Blaze perked up at those words, "You would do that for me?"

"Would I? Lass, that poor rotter doesn't know what he's missing with you! You may be a little crazy, but you're a fun girl nonetheless! And believe it or not, crazy is the new normal." Danny laughed, only to be surprised by a tight hug from Blaze, "'Ere now, it's all right. Oh right, we've got to get down there! Marcus needs us." Danny then winked at Blaze, "And so does Dillon..."

An chaotic blush coursed through her cheeks, soon followed by a smile. Ultimately she grabbed Danny by the hand, and they leaped off of the rooftop together.

Marcus was on the ground, loading his pistol and prepping his bat. He then grabbed his now debugged necklace, and hung around his neck yet again. 'Rachel, you understand why I'm doing this.' His thoughts echoed in his head, 'I hope that once the General is defeated, you will find peace. But this will not be easy. Even if the gas is taken care of, I don't know if I'll have the strength to take down Little. It's not every day that I have to kill my own father.' Marcus finished attaching his affects, and then he marched off towards the bus, which was now almost completely modified.

FATHER? COULD THIS BE TRUE? ONLY ONE WAY TO KNOW...


	10. Chapter 10: The Last Battle

Chapter 10: The Last Battle

"Hey, Marcus!" Isaac called, the other heavies and pyros trailing behind him, "What about us? What are we supposed to do?"

Marcus turned to face his fellow teammates, "All the heavies will be with their medics. We need them to charge during the bus trip. And pyros- I haven't actually though what you guys will do yet. Until I find out, you'll just be along for the ride. Aggy, is Manuel ready yet?"

"I'm comin'!" The demo-woman shouted as she and another figure came around the corner, "And don't call me Aggy!" The two came out of the shade, revealing Agatha, and a now fully zombified Manuel, who strangely looked good as new.

Marcus stepped back in amazement, "Manuel? Is that you? How do you feel?"

"Ugh, I feel like I have a hole my head." Manuel said in discomfort as he rubbed his hair, "Oh, that's why. There is a hole in my head." He laughed a bit, "That and I've got this strange craving for red meat." He began to look at Marcus as if he hadn't eaten for days.

Marcus however recognized the look from his previous 'experience'. "Oh no you don't! Save it for the Legion!"

Aggy raised an eyebrow, "Legion? Like a thousand?" Marcus only nodded in response, "Manuel, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

The new zombie grinned maliciously, "All you can eat buffet! Let's go!" Immediately he grabbed Agatha and dragged her to the bus.

"Zara, you about done with that thing?" Marcus yelled. Zara answered with a thumbs up. "Alright then, everyone on board?"

"Wait for us!" Danny and Blaze shouted, shoving Marcus out of the way and darting onto the bus.

"Sure, don't wait for me, I can see myself onto the bus." Dillon trailed behind, grumbling.

"Alright, medics, are you ready?" Marcus called out to the surgeons, who had just finished handing out the atropine.

"Wait Marcus," Jared answered, "You'll need one of these too." He handed Marcus an auto-injector syringe. "Should you come in contact, insert the needle directly into your heart."

"MY HEART? ARE YOU NUTS?" Marcus argued, "That could kill me!"

"And so will the gas if you don't inject it!" Jared responded, "The gas will seize control of your nervous system, your muscles will have violent spasms, and you will be vomiting very hard. But your nervous system is compromised. If you don't inject it into your heart, the atropine won't travel anywhere, and your skin will most likely melt off from the gas."

"Ouch." Marcus winced, "I'd rather jam this sucker into my heart since you put it that way. You best get on the bus with the others."

"Wait a minute... Who's driving exactly?" Danny asked, poking his head out of the bus window.

"That would be me." Marcus replied with a smile.

"Oh no, you are NOT driving MY bus! I remember you in tank school, Marcus! Every last second!"

"A bus is NOT a tank, Danny-el! There were like six to eight pedals in that thing! A bus has what- two? Maybe three, and besides, you've seen me on the track!"

"That was a go-cart track, you nit-wit!" Danny protested, "This is a bus! Not only that, but it's MY bus! Nothing you do or say will get you behind that wheel!"

"The Punch Bowl Rec Center, two years ago. I saved your bony Australian butt from one ticked off waitress. Now if you don't mind, I'll have the keys."

Danny's eyebrow violently twitched. He in turn said nothing, but rather reluctantly handed Marcus the keys to the bus. "Just- watch the paint on her, mate. Please?"

Marcus patted the sniper's shoulder, "Relax Danny, she's in good hands. Alright, saddle up everyone! We're outta here!" Marcus then climbed on-board and sat himself in the driver seat. "Let's hope this thing don't tip over with that turret on top." He chuckled a bit as he slowly turned the ignition. The engine chugged and sputtered, but eventually turned over into a backfire. The bus then sprang to life, and rolled off into the desert.

Hours Later- The General had successfully returned to his base of operations. He never let go of the briefcase, until he finally gave it to the lab technicians, "I want it weaponized and ready to launch in under one hour! Understood?" The workers agreed and took the case to the lab for preparation. "Captain, have the chopper refueled. You're going to oversee the Legion from the air."

Little's subordinate saluted, "Yes sir!" and then left to carry out his orders.

The General would have retired to his office, but his attention was averted by one of his operatives, who was in charge of the radar, "General Little, I think you should come look at this!"

The General glanced at the panel to see a tiny blip moving fast, and closing on the base. "It's probably just a straggler." He said, "Send a team to escort them in." Little then left to the administration office.

"Uh- Marcus?" Danny raised his brow, "Who in bloomin' 'eck are they?" He gestured as three armored vehicles appeared in the distance.

Marcus slowed the bus gradually, "I'm guessing it's the welcoming committee. Alright guys, keep your heads down. I'll take care of this."

"Soldier, what is your purpose here?" A voice came over a loud-speaker, connected to one of the vehicles.

Danny urged Marcus to grab the bus radio, "Uh- we're with long-range reconnaissance for the Legion, as you can clearly see sir."

"Oh-" The voice caught himself, "So that's what that thing is. Alright, follow our lead. The base isn't too far."

Marcus was a little shocked at the lack of suspicion, "Um- thanks." Marcus switched off the radio and turned his head back, "Best keep your heads down, guys. Manuel, Aggy, you'll handle them once we're inside the base. " But the zombies gave no response. "Um, guys?"

Manuel was sitting in the back, conversing with the RED demo-woman, "So that's how you got this way, eh? Looking good, senorita." He winked and flashed a grin.

"Considering you took one to your head, you're not so bad yourself. Heck, you look pretty appetizing." Agatha answered, licking her lips.

"Chica, you can eat me any day-"

"GUYS!" Marcus interrupted, "Eat each other later! Remember the mission!"

"You're no fun." Agatha grumbled, "Oh well, at least we're getting free food when we get off."

Manuel increased in optimism, "Maybe when this is all over, we can have a food fight with what's left of them!"

"Manuel, please!" Marcus complained, "I'm carsick enough without all the gory comments." The bus at this point just passed the main gate, "Okay guys, get ready." The bus then reached a stopping point. The legionnaires exited their vehicles and slowly approached the 18-wheeled transport. "They're at the door. On three, okay? One... Tw-" Marcus' countdown was cut short, as Agatha and Manuel crashed through the bus door and pinned down the General's troops, ultimately feasting on them like there was no tomorrow. "Two." Marcus finished with an unnerved chuckle. "Alright, we're in business! Everyone off the bus!" And in an instant, all of team BLAC flushed out of the bus- through windows, emergency exits, everywhere. Much to their surprise- no one else was present, save for the ones that were devoured by Manuel and Agatha.

"Um, aren't we supposed to be surrounded?" Danny asked, baffled.

"Yeah." Jared added, "There should have been hundreds of them."

Marcus shook his head lightly, "Doesn't matter, were inside the base. Johnny, take Steff with you and find that briefcase. She should wake up once you get there. Danny- you, Blaze, and Dillon have to keep the heavies and medics covered. Find some high ground, that should help. Medics, charge your heavies!"

"What about you?" Jared queried, "What are you going to do?"

A fire flooded Marcus' eyes, "I'm going to end this here and now! Alright move out!" The team obeyed and dispersed as Marcus ran off to find his father.

"Hey Jared," Isaac taunted, "I bet you a sandvich that I'll make it out of here without a scratch!"

"With me behind you?" Jared grinned and primed his kritzkrieg medi-gun, "Make it ten!"

Isaac took the challenge with pride, "You're on!" and warmed up his special minigun, whom he had named Olga.

Johnny in the meantime carried Steff on his shoulders while running through the main hallway of the base, searching for the briefcase. "Grr, why don't they have any signs in this place?" Johnny complained, "It's gotta be around here somewhere!"

Steff then slowly opened her eyes, to see Johnny's feet kicking backward with each sprint, "What the- hey, put me down!"

Johnny struggled to carry the squirming blonde scout, "Oh good, now you can help me find the briefcase." He gently set her down on her feet, only to get struck in the face. "Ow- What was that for?"

"For handling me without my permission!" Steff yelled in frustration.

Johnny at that moment said the wrong thing, "I need permission?" Steff drew her pistol to shoot him for his remark, but was hindered by Johnny's explanation, "It wasn't my idea! Your boyfriend-er- that dude with the bling on his neck told me to carry you with me!"

Steff lowered her pistol, "Marcus told you to do that? Where did he go? Did he say?"

Johnny nodded, "I think he was going after the big guy up top."

"He's gonna try taking Little on by himself!" Steff gasped, "Johnny, you've gotta find that briefcase. I'm going after Marcus."

"What do I do if I find it?"

Steff started to run off, "Just get rid of it! But be careful, that stuff is really dangerous!"

"But where should I look for it?" Johnny asked, confused and looking around himself.

"The room is right to your left idiot!" Steff's voice trailed off as she sought to find Marcus. Within seconds, she disappeared from sight.

Johnny took another look around, "Right to my left? WHAT THE CRAP DOES THAT MEAN?" his countenance darkened for a moment, only to look to the left and find- the one and only door with a sign on it. The sign read, 'Biological Weapons: Keep Out'. "Oh, right _to_ my left. I-I knew that."

In the meanwhile, the General stood by the window of his office. Observing his glorious army preparing for battle. "It's such a pity it'll end so fast, it almost makes it seem too easy."

"It's a pity, _dad_, that you would stoop this low!" Marcus answered as he entered the administration room, "It was bad enough when you left mom! You broke her heart so badly that it drove her to suicide!"

Marcus' father laughed sinisterly, "Yes, and it's such a shame I wasn't there to see it when she did herself in. I would have loved to feel her blood run through my fingers."

Marcus couldn't believe the words coming from his own dad, "How can you say that? She loved you!"

"The feeling wasn't mutual! Your mother was merely a way for my bloodline to continue! It appears though that one of my biological facts has turned against me. I knew that it was so when you spent more time with Rachel! That girl tried to take my son from me, so I stopped her dead in her tracks, to teach you a lesson! It seems you however, are too stupid to learn!"

"Shut up!" Marcus hurdled himself toward the General, only to be violently kicked away. Marcus tried again with a combination of aggressive punches, each one blocked and countered by the much stronger General.

Little kicked Marcus to the ground slowly drew his pistol, "I could have used you for such greater things. But even when I took Rachel from you, you still defied me with another one! That- that harlot of a scout! But now I say, no more!" The General cocked the hammer back and slowly started to squeeze the trigger, only to be tackled by a strange red blur. The pistol in turn flew out through the window, disappearing from sight for good.

Marcus regained his footing, and then look over to see the RED scout fighting his father, "Steff?" The General brutally wrapped his gloved fingers around Steff's bare arm and threw her off of him. Marcus hurried to help her up, "Steff, what are you doing here?"

"Saving you, what does it look-" Steff clutched her arm, and her body began to enter multiple spasms, "Augh, what the-" she soon collapsed to the floor.

Marcus grew very angry, "What did you do to her?"

"Oh I'm sorry," Little cackled raising up the glove that touched her, "I forgot to wash my hands." The glove had been coated with a small amount of the VX agent. "I heard this stuff is quite contagious."

"You monster- mrph!" Marcus too began to convulse.

"You just don't get it, do you Marcus? You've already lost. I knew you would come after me. And now my soldiers have surrounded your friends. Look out the window and see for your- what?" To Little's surpise, he did not see his legionary forces, but rather only fragments of them, and two strange figures feasting on the remaining soldiers. "How could that be possible?" As the General rambled on in his astonishment, Marcus quickly took his auto-injector and plunged it into his heart. In but a few minutes, Marcus was able to slowly remove the syringe and refill it, this time with air instead of atropine.

Jared and Isaac were holding their own against the Legion, with Jared sitting on top of the BLAC heavy's shoulders. "What's taking him so long?" Isaac shouted, "Olga's almost out of ammo!" Just then his gun began to dry-fire, "Okay scratch that, she is out of ammo!"

"I'm dry too, Isaac." Jared replied, "This isn't good." The two threw up their hands in hopes of delaying their fate as the dozens of armor-clad soldiers closed in on them.

In another section of the base, even the zombies were having trouble. "Come on Manuel, eat! Eat like your life depends on it!" Agatha cried!"

"But Aggy, I'm full!" Manuel whined, "I'll bust if I take another bite!"

"Hurry up and eat or else they're gonna-" Agatha was cut off as more legionnaires set roundabout against the two zombified specialists. "Catch us."

And alas, not even Johnny would get very far. "Alright, I've got the case. Now what am I supposed to do? I got it! I'll just-" before he could finish, the troops surrounded him too, all pointing their rifles in the direction of his head, "I'll just- give it you guys! It was just a big misunderstanding! I've got the wrong case, so here you go- it's yours- bye, I'm outta here, see ya!" As he started to run however, he was nabbed from behind by his collar and lifted off the ground. "Crap."

"Sir, we have them and we're awaiting your orders." The captain radioed from the helicopter, which soared overhead observing the battlefield.

The General grinned, seeing that the tide had turned. "Get ready to fire on my command."

The captain reiterated the orders to the troops, "All units prepare to fire!"

"Ready arms." The General continued, the captain relaying each command to the Legion, "Take aim on the targets... Fi-" The General was not able to finish, as Marcus jabbed the air-filled needle into his father's neck, pumping nitrogen and oxygen into Little's jugular vein.

"General? Permission to engage, sir?" The captain grew nervous, he couldn't give the order to fire unless the General gave it himself. "All units standby, something's wrong."

General Little whirled around and wrapped his non-gloved hand around Marcus' throat, lifting him into the air and gripping him very tightly. "Now-" He tried to speak, "I-will kill you- myself!" Little did not fulfill his vow however, as he then was stabbed in the back by an invisible force.

A cloud of smoke filled the room, revealing Jacques-er Jack, who had done the dirty work. "No father should ever treat their sons that way!"

Little's last act, was to turn around and gaze upon his older son, "Et tu, John?" The General tried to move towards Jack, to kill him, but Jack responded by stepping aside and kicking the general through the window. The ground took the now deceased General's body in a warm embrace, as his lifeless corpse landed amongst his fellow soldiers.

Even the captain saw the horrible sight, "My God."

"The General is dead, Captain. You're in command now." A legionnaire transmitted, "What are your orders?"

The captain looked around at the carnage, then at Little's body, and then he let out a sigh. "Stand down."

"But sir, they-"

"I said stand down! That's an order! All units stand down! Call the Administrator."

The legionnaire was not happy at what he heard, but still submitted to his superior, "Yes sir."

The three teams on the ground all cheered for their victory, though Johnny took the victory a little too serious. "Yeah, that's right! You don't mess with Johnny! Alright now, who's your daddy? Say it! Who's your daddy?"

The one soldier who had grabbed him let out a groan, "You are?"

"Darn straight, son!" Johnny laughed as he stomped on the soldier's foot.

Marcus at that time stood up, rubbing his neck and sighing with relief, "It's over. We did it Steff. Wait, the atropine! I gotta-"

Jack held him back, "Easy bro, the BLU dude's handling that. You just relax."

Marcus saw the BLU spy ready the syringe, "I'm sorry, this is going to hurt." he whimpered, ultimately driving the needle into her chest. As soon as the atropine emptied, the spy carefully pulled out the auto-injector.

Marcus ran over to the unconscious scout and knelt beside her. He then picked her up in his arms, and checked her neck for a pulse. "Come on Steff, don't do this to me. Steff? Steff, hang in there girl! Come on!" There was still no response, and Marcus began to softly weep, "Steff, please don't go. I can' t lose any more friends! Please don't die on me!" Marcus hung his head, and tears fell from his face.

All of a sudden, a gentle whisper left Steff's lips, "Who said I was dying?"

Marcus let out an overjoyed laugh, "Don't you ever do that again, you hear? Are you okay? How do you feel?"

Steff winked, "Come closer and I'll tell you." Marcus insinuated a kiss was involved, but as he leaned in closer- his face was kissed by Steff's fist. "How do you think I feel? YOU JABBED A FREAKIN NEEDLE IN MY CHEST!"

Marcus tried to resolve the issue, "No, I didn't do that! It was-"

"Shut it!" Steff barked.

"Oh I get it, you're trying to get back at me for earlier, aren't you?" Marcus argued, "I knocked you out, but it didn't stop you did it? Look, I'm truly sorry about that. I wish I hadn't had to resort to that. I-" Marcus was surprised by a soft, warm kiss from the RED scout.

Steff slowly broke away, "You were trying to protect me, and I didn't listen. It's me who should be sorry."

"Don't be." Marcus answered, "If you didn't do what you did, I would have been toast.

Steff chuckled, "I'd get up, but after all that I think I need a break."

Marcus lifted Steff off of the ground and started to leave the room, "Let's go home guys."

As those few finally reached the bottom of the base, they witnessed the Administrator directing the rest of the three teams to disarm the Legion. "Marcus." The boss lady turned to face the scout, "I understand you're responsible for this."

Marcus nodded, "Yeah kinda."

"And I see you've cared for your-" she cleared her throat at the sight of Steff being carried by Marcus, "sister in arms."

Marcus and Steff looked at each other for a moment, resulting in both of them blushing a deep red. Marcus immediately set Steff down and dusted himself off, "Um, it's not what you think ma'am."

The Administrator strangely laughed, something she never would normally do, "At ease, you have done a great service. Had Little succeeded, who knows what he might have done? If there is a way I could repay you-"

"Yeah!" Steff started, "You can give him his place on RED team back! And the record of his discharge, I want it gone!" Marcus had tried to stop her, but it was too late. He smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand.

The Administrator raised her brow, "Discharge? What discharge? I only had him transferred to BLAC for disciplinary reasons. He had stolen these from me, and refused to give them back." she handed Steff a handful of photos, "I assumed he was afraid of embarrassing personal records, so I thought serving in BLAC would do him some good."

Steff glared at Marcus, and began looking through the photos, "You were transferred for stealing pictures of yourself?"

Marcus hung his head in a humiliated shame, "More or less, yeah."

Steff came across one picture of Marcus, in his team outfit, "Is that you?"

Marcus looked over her shoulder to see, "Yeah, I was younger- er- and shorter."

Steff smiled, "You look pretty good in red." Her comment once again made Marcus blush. She flipped through more photos, only to see one of an infant wearing a scout's cap, "Aww, baby Marcus looks so cute!"

Marcus' face turned even more red, "Alright alright, I guess it's okay for you to look at it. Just as long as you don't-"

Marcus would've continued had Steff not ran off towards the rest of the RED team, shouting, "Hey guys, check out Marcus' baby pics! He's so cute!"

Marcus turned pale as a ghost, "Share it..." he finished.

The Administrator laughed and put her hand on Marcus' shoulder, "She's quite a hand-full isn't she?"

Marcus smirked and nodded, "Yeah grandma, she is."

"Looks a lot like your sister. Did you tell her that?"

Marcus winced, "No, she thinks Rachel was my girlfriend."

Marcus' grandmother sighed, "I'm sorry it turned out like this. I only wanted you to have a chance to reconnect with your father."

"Oh believe me, he and I reconnected." Marcus said, unnerved.

"I didn't think he was going to go that far. He snapped when your brother ran away, but I didn't expect him to blame me and your mother. And to take your sister's life, my granddaughter! He had to be stopped, there was no other way."

"There was another way grandma, but it was to let him win. No one in the world would be safe if that happened. Rachel and I knew the costs, and now I know at least she's finally at peace."

"I can't bring back your sister, Marcus. But I might be able to bring back your life."

Marcus failed to understand, "Excuse me?"

"You and your friends are going to be reassigned, and distributed to the RED and BLU teams you have worked with. I've seen the way you've grown to love your new friends. And I am proud to see how far you have come. So as of this day, you are hereby reinstated as a RED team scout. Now carry on!"

Marcus smiled with glee and saluted, "Yes ma'am!" Marcus then ran off to join Steff and his new friends, who had formed new connections of their own. Jared and Isaac had grown closer together as friends- even though Isaac now owed Jared ten sandviches. Agatha and Manuel seemed ravenously attracted to one another, and as they said they would, they had started a 'food fight'.

In that time Dillon had watched Blaze's impressive marksman skills during the firefight, so he thought to congratulate her. He calmly approached the BLU sniper, who was talking to Danny, and said, "Hey um- I just wanted to say-er- nice job out there. You've got quite an eagle-eye."

Blaze however threw her arms around Danny in a fake- yet romantic fashion, "You can compliment better than that, can't you Dillon?"

The sniper let out a sigh of frustration, "Lass I'll admit it, you're pretty cool for a sniper. That and your glasses are almost as cool as mine." He shifted the conversation to Danny, "I feel like taking her off your shoulders for some reason."

At that moment, Blaze leaped onto Dillon and put him into a bone-crushing embrace, "Oh thank you! Thank you!"

Dillon was too shocked for words,"Um I-" he shot a look over at Danny.

"Sorry mate, all sales are final." Danny laughed maniacally and walked away.

Soon after, all the teams piled onto the BLAC team's bus and prepared to drive off. "WAIT!" Zara cried out, "I never got to use the turret!"

"Just never mind it, senorita!" Carlos called back, "We've won, no need for it now!"

"Well, shucks, I wanted to see it work!" Angie complained.

Marcus let out a loud laugh, "Another time guys, another time. But now, let's go home. Danny, start her up."

"With pleasure, mate!" Danny hopped into the driver seat and turned the ignition, only for a lout sputtering to occur. "Well that's just not cricket, duckies! We're out of gas!"

The rest of the teams all joined in perhaps the largest argument in history, who knows when it would be settled. The Administrator soon returned to her base to give her son, the General, a proper burial. Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the BLAC base of operations, there lay the corpse of Rachel Little, Marcus' dearly departed sister. But as she lay on the refuse heap, a strange thing happened. Her lifeless body began to move, her fingers twitched- and instantly her eyes opened, followed by a frightened scream from her lungs. WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT? ONLY A SEQUEL WILL TELL!

THE END


End file.
